Saturday will mark the third time that Davenport and Lindenwood have played each, and the DII Panthers have accounted for the previous two wins. But the Lady Lions are in their best position yet and will bring a revitalized squad to what is always an excellent match-up.

“The girls are anxious to get out and play,” Lindenwood coach Billy Nicholas said of the season-opener. “This will be the first time that a handful of players work alongside one another on the pitch, so it should be interesting to see. Hopefully their chemistry will start off strongly.”

The Lady Lions added six new players for the spring season (in addition to signing some very exciting talent for fall 2015), including AIC transfer and Junior All American Gio Cruz, and Junior Olympian and High School All American Tiffany Person, both of whom will get the start Saturday at flanker and No. 8, respectively. The back line is almost entirely new. Spring addition and Fullerton (Calif.) alum AnnaKaren Pedraza steps into flyhalf, and works with new center pairing Jocelyn Taufa (Laie, Hawaii) and Kendall McCracken, former star of Oregon State. Junior Olympian Dana Olsen makes her freshman debut after rehabbing an injury throughout the fall and slides in at wing.

Unfortunately for Lindenwood, the team will be missing captain Davon Thomas for the season as she recovers from a leg injury.

Davenport is fresh off a second-place finish at the Atlanta 7s Festival, where it split games with DI AIC and Cal, and soundly defeated DII South Carolina.

“Yes, I was happy considering that was our third time outside all year so far,” Davenport coach Greg Teliczan reflected on Atlanta. “Funny, though, I thought we would be a lot stronger on defense, and struggle spreading the ball and supporting, but it was just the opposite.”

Doing damage on the scoreboard were Junior All Americans Danielle Ordway and Ashlee Byrge, who scored 12 tries and 10 conversions between them. Both have been active in the off-season, joining all-star teams at the LVI 7s last month. Byrge competed for the HS All Americans in the program’s first-ever competition – and was spectacular. Jen Harig and Brittany O’Dell also represented Davenport in Las Vegas.

“Davenport was a very strong team last fall, with many of their players earning honors,” Nicholas acknowledge. “They’re a team I think should be in D1 competing. We played them last September and lost by a score of 20-5, so they are not an opponent to be taken lightly and are very physical.”

The game kicks off at 5 p.m. Central in St. Charles, Mo. Stay tuned for updates.