Life University Athletics

Orlando, FL - The Life U women finished 2^nd at Tropical 7s, finishing 5-0 in pool play before losing a closely contested final against University of Guelph from Ontario, Canada. The Running Eagles started out Day 2 with a clash against Guelph, the other remaining undefeated team from Day 1. Guelph introduced themselves to Life early on with a try in the opening minutes. However, Life responded right back as Malery Billingy ran a stunning line through a tight gap, going untouched into the try zone dotting it down between the posts, making it easy work for a Madison Ohmann conversion. Guelph responded once more just before the half, making it 7-10 in Guelph's favor.
 
The Running Eagles gave themselves some breathing room in the second half with back-to-back tries from Kaitlyn Broughton and Darian Lovelace, Ohmann was 1-for-2, making the score 19-10 with just a minute remaining. Guelph would not relent, and at the final whistle, put one more try in the corner for a 19-15 win to the Running Eagles. The last pool match against Central Alberta saw six running eagles score tries, Maria Marin, Jocelyn Jones, Tatum Johnson (2), Alex Sedrick, Lekia Haynes, and Megan Rom all found pay dirt, with the final score of 36-10. Life awaited the results of Guelph vs Lindenwood and Guelph was victorious in their final pool match, setting up a re-match from earlier that morning.
 
Guelph started out aggressively and remained so throughout the entirety of the match, scoring in the opening minutes and at the final whistle. Those tries bookended a tightly contested match with Karen Faget and Alexandria Sedrick keeping their squad in the match with a try a piece. Final score Life 12 – 24 Guelph. Head Coach Rosalind Chou was pleased with the overall performance of the squad, "This was the perfect warm up to our home tournament next weekend. Considering how little time on task we've had to train for 7s, the team demonstrated that they could adjust from one code of rugby to another, relatively seamlessly. We saw sixteen student-athletes get time on the pitch this weekend and are building a strong pool for the Collegiate Rugby Championship." Six Running Eagles made their debut for the varsity 7s side, and will be competing next week at the Life U 7s tournament in hopes of securing an automatic seed to USA Rugby College 7s in Glendale, Colorado the weekend of May 18-19.