Greensville, South Carolina, March 26, 2019 – The Life University Women’s Rugby team held on to defeat Penn State 34-31 in the D1 Elite Semifinal Sunday afternoon, March 24, to advance to the national championship for the second consecutive year.
Similar to last season, the Running Eagles had to get through the Nittany Lions to advance to the D1 Elite 15s National Championship. Life U used its line speed and physicality to earn the victory over Penn State to set up a rematch of last year’s final against Lindenwood University.
Summer Harris-Jones started the scoring for Life U, as Susan Adegoke followed with two of her own to put the Running Eagles ahead 17-0. Penn State went for points just before the half for a 17-3 scoreline at the break.
Penn State found its first try of the match coming out of the break; however, Harris-Jones and Adegoke continued their offensive dominance into the second half. Harris-Jones scored her second try of the match with a nice offload from Adegoke, who minutes later picked up her hat-trick to put the Running Eagles ahead 29-10.
Megan Rom finished the scoring with ten minutes remaining for Life U ahead 34-17. A late push from Penn State fell short as the Running Eagles held on to take the 34-31 victory.
Read the full recap of the story provided by USA Rugby by clicking here.
The Running Eagles advance to face Lindenwood University on April 7 at 3:00 p.m. EST on the campus of Stanford University for the 2019 D1 Elite National Championship. The game will have a live stream available at USA Rugby TV.
The photo album from the match can be found here: Life U Women’s Rugby vs Penn State Photos.
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