There was a lot of anticipation for the second Lindenwood University vs. Life University game last weekend. What adjustments would each team make? How big a role would the location or in-person crowd play? Would lineups move around? In the end, the Lions traveled to Marietta, Ga., and tidied up its game, resulting in a 51-0 shutout.
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“First of all, it was great to get back and play again after a year,” Lindenwood senior Natalie Gray prefaced any season-opener commentary. “The main thing we focused on was getting back in to it and gaining more cohesion. We’ve added new players and have been away for so long, that we just wanted to get back out there, learn each other’s habits, and create team work and everything.”
The Feb. 20 game didn’t break open until the fourth quarter, and Lindenwood pulled out the 39-17 win.
“Life did a great job of disrupting our breakdowns and stealing ball from us a lot, so the major thing we worked on was our ball security,” Gray said. “For the last two weeks of practice, we did a lot of breakdown work, working on the ground, getting first supporters there, and we definitely noticed that because of all of that, our breakdowns were much more secure [in the second game]. We were able to put more phases together without all the disruption and ball stealing.
“It’s weird because we’ve never really had a time where we played the same team two weeks apart,” the lock added, “so we were able to focus on specific things to improve based on how Life played us.”
Life might not have stolen as much possession as it did in the first match but the Running Eagles defense was still able to fluster. Coupled with the boisterous hometown crowd, there were some big surges of defensive energy.
“For lack of a better term, it put a fire under our ass,” Gray said of the pressure. “We hear them and they’re excited, but we have a lot to prove, too. It just brings us together and makes us work better as a team. That was a big thing for us – to stay calm – especially with the huge crowd and big chants. It was fun to see us work through that, work on our team work and build some cohesion out of that.”
Gray said that all of her teammates embrace an encouraging mindset during the game. Every set piece includes pats on the back. Every score is followed by a celebration. The senior pointed to veterans Sativa Tarau-Peehikuru and Richelle Stephens for culturing that environment.
“Overall we just kind of worked together and were able to create phases – which is something I always get excited about,” Gray said of takeaways. “When we can work the ball through everyone and have those team moments instead of individual moments, that’s fun to see and what makes it fun to play. And coming back from a messy, disruptive game two weeks ago, being able to stick together and get more phases and everything, that was something great that came out of it.”
Gray was also pleased with the set pieces and better discipline in the scrum, an area that always needs attention. The conversion kicker has also enjoyed more time on the pitch with the newcomers.
“We have a bunch who are so fun to play with, Eti [Haungatau] being one of them,” Gray said. “We all know she has a lot of experience with the USA 7s and U.S. Women’s National Team, but she’s a hard runner and a fun asset to have. One of our forwards, flanker Ahnea [Aupiu], is consistent and always asking questions, continually looking to learn our structure and strategies. It’s been fun to see how much she’s improved in just the last two games compared to last semester. She’s playing with more confidence.”
Up next is Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash. The Wildcats beat BYU 43-13 on Feb. 27 and then Grand Canyon University 128-0 last weekend.
“Central Washington is always a physical team, so it’s going to be a tough one for sure because of that,” Gray said. “We’ve just got to continue on breakdown security and being physical ourselves to match them in that aspect. And play a full 80 minutes.”
Gray said that she is excited to play a new opponent, but that no one team is circled on the calendar. Even though the team has two wins in the books, there’s no looking past the very next match.
“It’s definitely been weird,” Gray said of the spring season. “The first game didn’t feel real until we were playing. And then with traveling, you never know what’s going to happen and everyone has seen that anything can change so quickly. Everyone is saying, ‘Live in the moment. Do what we can do, when we can do it.’ That mentality has helped us through training – working as hard as we can while we can and enjoying it. Traveling with two teams was a great time, too, because it felt like such a privilege. But I wouldn’t say we’ve settled in yet. We still have a long ways to go, and hopefully we can keep going.”