The Lindenwood Women's Rugby team (2-0, 1-0 NIRA) took down Queens on Saturday morning in Hendersonville, Tennesee by a final score of 103-5 to open NIRA play with a 1-0 record for the second straight season.
Ava Reuter and
Mia Saige Topasna scored the first two tries of the match at the third and ninth minutes with
Joselin Roque Lopez adding a conversion on the try by Reuter to put the Lions in front 12-0 less than 10 minutes into the first half. Queens responded with a try in the 13th minute to cut the Lindenwood lead down to 12-5, but
Samantha Levine scored her first try of the season in the 16th minute to put LU back in front by 12 with the score being 17-5.
Domniki Platis and
Sarin Rowland scored their first tries of the season as well later in the first half, while Reuter added her second try of the half in the 29th minute as the Lions took a 34-5 lead into halftime after Lopez added another conversion on the try by Platis in the 24th minute.
Lindenwood did not let up in the second half as they scored all 11 tries in the last 40 minutes of play. Several Lions scored their first tries of the season, including
Renny Faletoi,
Branwen Saville,
Gabby Bryant,
Gianna Veetutu,
Aries Popoali'i, and
Evelynn Danhof. Lopez added her third conversion of the match in the 45th minute after Topasna scored her second try of the contest, while
Lille Merlow added six conversions in the second half as the Lions went on to win the match by a final score of 103-5.
Mia Saige Topasna led the Lions offensively with three tries in the win over Queens, while
Ava Reuter,
Branwen Saville, and
Samantha Levine each added two tries of their own.
"Awesome weekend! I was very proud to see the development from last week to this week in our focus points from the staff." said Head Coach
Trevor Locke. "Road trips also always seem to present chances to adapt, and our team took them in stride, which was great to see!"
Lindenwood will stay on the road next weekend as they will travel to Bethany, Oklahoma on Saturday, September 19 to take on Southern Nazarene for the second time this season. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 PM CT.
