Who Leads in D1 Elite?
Who Leads in D1 Elite?
The seeding for this fall's D1 Elite will be based on the regular season and we have a better idea of where everything will shake out.
Not every one of the four teams will play the other three. Penn State doesn't play Lindenwood but have already played the other two; meanwhile Lindenwood, Life, and Central Washington all do play each other and Lindenwood plays Life twice.
So far we've seen four games, with Life defeating Penn State 53-0 and Central Washington defeating Penn State 63-12. Lindenwood got by Life 36-21 on October 8, and then took a trip to the Pacific Northwest, coming away with a 33-15 win over the Wildcats of CWU.
The Lions opened the scoring by punishing penalties and mauling over—Jadyn Collins popping off the back and crashing through to score. Jet Metz added a second try and then Helen van Hattem went over. CWU added a penalty goal in between those two tries.
Van Hattem went on to score two more to get the hat trick. Central Washington's outstanding loose forward Tessa Hann went over for two tries in the second half.
"The overall weekend was a resounding success," said Central was tough and was up for the game physically. They were very tough at scrum time and the breakdown, making our day difficult start to finish."
Locke praised his team's toughness and noted that forwards Ahnea Aupiu, Ina Bailey, and Aifili Tuita'u fronted up very nicely.
"It is a testament to the daily training environment the team is creating as to why they are playing well at the moment," added Locke.
"Congrats to Lindenwood for the great match," said Central Washington Head Coach Matthew Ramirez. "Definitely a physical contest from the get and some quality moments of top-tier rugby. It's just nailing the little things which we touched on all week. There's still one too many missed tackles out there, but it highlights the area of what we need to improve going forward."
At halftime, Ramirez added, "we just had another honest conversation at the half about changing what we can control. We made a few substitutions and are starting to build the depth that we need that will beneficial going forward."
So what does all of that mean for the standings? This:
| D1 Elite | W | L | T | PF | PA | PD | BT | BL | Pts |
| Lindenwoood | 2 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 29 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
| Life | 1 | 1 | 0 | 67 | 24 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Central Washington | 1 | 1 | 0 | 78 | 45 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Penn State | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 116 | -104 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Still on the slate is Life at Central Washington and Lindenwood at Life again.
What will likely happen is that Lindenwood will be the #2-seed and will face Penn State in the semifinals. Life's November 5 clash with Central Washington will probably be a preview of the other semifinal.
