Life University Athletics

MARIETTA, Ga. --- The Life University Men's Rugby team held the lead early in the second half, but an unanswered Lindenwood run saw the Running Eagles come up short 27-16 at Lupo Family Field Saturday afternoon in D1A men's rugby action.

The game set up to be a kickers dual through the first 40 minutes of play, Life U's Bradley Crane showing off his leg with a pair of penalty kicks from 40+ meters to give the Running Eagles a 6-3 lead by the ninth minute. Lindenwood's responded with another penalty kick to tie the game up in the 17th minute, but Life U received another opportunity for a PK just two minutes later, Crane kicking through a PK to give the team a 9-6 lead that they would maintain into the break as both teams defenses did a good job of crashing to the ball and stopping scoring opportunities.

Life U came out of the break, pressing the advantage as just two minutes into the half a Running Eagles maul off a line out saw Ty Carlson touch down the first try of the game, his team taking a 16-6 lead after the Crane conversion attempt. The game's momentum started shifting towards Lindenwood as the second half progressed, the Lions hitting a penalty kick at 49:05, and following that up with a try 10 minutes later to tie the match 16-16. The Lions recorded two more PKs after that to take a 22-16 lead into the final 10 minutes of competition. With less than two minutes to play, the Running Eagles put together an offensive series that saw them threatening to score, within the final five meters of a score, but they turned the ball over just outside of the try line. Lindenwood went on to score in the final seconds of the match to give the final score of 27-16.

Head coach Colton Cariaga had this to say about the competition, "This is not a result we are happy with, but we'll look at it, regroup, and we will get better to a man, staff included." Cariaga finished saying, " We fought hard at times. but need to be more clinical across the board. In particular, we need to take our opportunities better and finish."

Life U hits the road for their next competition, facing Arkansas State February 26th at 1 PM.