The Lindenwood women's rugby team defeated Life 19-15 to win the CRAA Women's D1A National Championship on Saturday in Palo Alto, California.

In what was the seventh consecutive matchup in the finals for the two teams, Lindenwood's Freda Tafuna's two tries and the teams overall defensive ability earned the Lions' their sixth 15s national championship since 2018.

"We are so proud of the team for everything they put into this year," said Lindenwood head coach Trevor Locke. "They work so incredibly hard and to see them continually pick each other up in hard times is a true pleasure. Our staff couldn't be more thankful for to coach such a solid group of young women!" 

Life opened up the scoring, but Tafuna's try and successful conversion put the Lions up 7-5 at the 15 minute mark.  Both teams traded possession by utilizing the kicking game to battle for field position and despite both teams being inside the other teams 22 meter line multiple times, the score stayed 7-5 at the half. 

The halftime break provided some momentum for Life as they quickly scored a try on the outside to take a 10-7 lead at the 45 minute mark.  On the ensuing possession Lindenwood was called for a yellow-card and played the next 10 minutes shorthanded.

Despite being shorthanded, the Lions controlled the ball and had multiple possessions on the Life try line, but Life's aggressive defense was able to rip the ball from the Lions.  Just as the Lions got back to full strength, Tafuna scored her second try of the game at the 60 and her successful conversion makes it 14-10.

Lindenwood received the kickoff deep in their end, but after a couple of quick off-loads, the ball was knocked loose at the 10-meter line and Life returned it to take a 15-14 lead with 63 minutes left in regulation.

Tafuna again stepped up for Lindenwood after she stripped the ball from a Life player to help the Lions quickly move through multiple phases to get the ball on the outside for a try from freshman Nevaeh Elliott (69'). The conversion was unsuccessful and the Lions took the lead 19-15.

The final ten minutes provided back and forth big plays and big stops from both teams.  Lindenwood pressured the Running Eagles after a long run by Amy Brice, but Life held strong and after a Lindenwood penalty, Life kicked into touch for a lineout at the 79 minutes mark and shortly after the clock hit 80 minutes, the Lions had a huge tackle into touch to end the match.