Old Foes Clash Once More in D1 Elite Final
Old Foes Clash Once More in D1 Elite Final
Lindenwood and Life University know each other all too well.
The two Women's D1 Elite programs have faced off three times in the last seven months, and Saturday will make it four. In May they met up in he CRAA D1 Elite Final, won by Lindenwood. And this fall, with the entire D1 Elite season shifted to the fall, they met in two regular-season games, with Lindenwood winning both.
However, talk to the Life University players and they will point out that last May's final was 21-0, the first game this fall was 24-14, and their November 12 meeting was 31-26. The margin of victory has essentially halved each of the last two games. Watch out, Lions, those Running Eagles are coming for you.
The big part of the improvement for Life was the return of Saher Hamdan, who came back from a bit of a freak injury to bolster the Running Eagles midfield. With scrumhalf Autumn Locicero leading with confidence at scrumhalf and Su Adegoke bringing some new skills to the table, they have a very effective backline.
Certainly Head Coach Ryszard Chadwick thinks they are improving.
For Lindenwood, this has been a but of a weird season with Head Coach Billy Nicholas leaving the program early on and Trevor Locke stepping in from his assistant coaching position to become interim Head Coach. The Lions have not lost this fall, playing several games against tough women's clubs as well as D1 Elite opposition. They did it without Eagle Eti Haungatau, who took the semester off to concentrate on playing for the USA in the Women's Rugby World Cup.
All that did was open up a place for someone else. Lindenwood's backline is exceptionally dangerous this fall, with last spring's D1 Elite Final MVP Helen Van Hattem continuing to finish tries with her long stride and smart support running. Demi Allen at fullback or center, and Australian speedster Amy Brice are also key attacking threats.
It's a young group in the pack, but one that likes to mix it up, with Ahnea Aupiu having a breakout fall at flanker.
So will this be a different final than in the spring? Will Life get a bit more of a look offensively? It seems to be that this will be slightly less of a collision of two freight trains, but only slightly. Life feels like they can derail the Lindenwood engine.
Lindenwood vs Life is live on The Rugby Network at 1PM ET>>
