ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington women's rugby team (2-2) fell at home to the defending D1 Elite Champions, the Lindenwood Lady Lions (4-1) in a hard-fought 25-12 match from Tomlinson Stadium.
"What a match," CWU Head Women's Rugby Coach Matt Ramirez said. "The response our team had, in the fifth week of being assembled, against a team like that was exactly what we asked of them. We've been working to build a strong bench, and to see the work of our finishers today gave everyone the right picture. To battle back in the second half was great.
Jah Taele,
Maleena Mero,
Lauren DiPasquale,
Noelle Inverso,
Mariah Tuitasi, and
Alexandria Ma'ae as well as everyone on the team did their job to be impact players and they all did it well. Onto the next to get ready for Boise State."
The Lady Lions struck first with 29 minutes left in the first half getting a successful, but not able to get a successful conversion to take the 5-0 lead. CWU would threaten getting close to the Lindenwood try line but couldn't quite break the brick wall that was the Lady Lion defense. LU struck again with 13 minutes left with a long try but weren't able to make the conversion again to see their lead increase to 10-0. Lindenwood struck once more to end the first half, having another successful try, but not a successful conversion to see the lead grow to 15-0.
The Wildcats came out of halftime with a new energy a lot of aggression on the offensive attack.
Jessica Postle got the 'Cats on the board with 24 minutes left, crossing over the try line.
Kai Brandt-Templeton made the conversion to make it a 15-7 match in favor of LU. The Wildcats kept up the attack and it paid off as Postle posted her second try of the match, but unfortunately the conversion was unsuccessful making it a 15-12 Lindenwood lead with 16 minutes left.
Despite the 'Cats best efforts, the Lady Lions mustered up two more tries, one with five minutes left, and one with 15 seconds left to take the 25-12 victory.
The Wildcats stay home to prepare for a battle against the Boise State Broncos (5-1) on Sunday, November 5
th at noon from Tomlinson Stadium.
