CAMBRIDGE, MA. - The Lindenwood Women's Rugby team fell just short of capturing their first NIRA Divisional Championship in their first season as a member of the NIRA as they were defeated on Saturday afternoon at Harvard by a final score of 22-19.  

In the first half, Harvard struck first in the 17th minute to score the first try of the match and successfully made the conversion to go up by a score of 7-0. On the kickoff, the Lions were awarded a scrum after Harvard committed a penalty in their defensive half of the field which gave Lindenwood an opportunity to even the score. Loimata Toia found the try zone in the 21st minute and Freda Tafuna added two points on the conversion to tie the match at seven mid way through the first half. Following the try by Toia, the Crimson scored 10 unanswered points to take a 17-7 lead at the half. 

The second half was a back-and-forth battle. Lucía del Campo Andrés got the Lions to within five in the 51st minute on a try and Tafuna cut the lead to three after making her second conversion of the match to make it 17-14 with 29 minutes remaining. Later in the half, Harvard scored their only try of the second half in the 63rd minute to extend their lead to eight at 22-14. With less than two minutes to go, Amy Brice got loose down the right sideline and was tackled short of the try zone. Tafuna eventually scored a try in the 89th minute cutting the Crimson lead back down to three at 22-19. The Lions elected not to go for the conversion as there wasn't enough time left on the clock. On the ensuing kickoff, the Lions worked their way inside the Harvard defensive zone, but the Crimson were able to gain possession of the ball to end the match and win their third consecutive NIRA championship. 

Lindenwood ends their championship season with an overall record of 8-2 with their only losses on the season coming at Harvard.