Utah Valley falls to tough Lindenwood team in DII semifinals

DII college rugby semifinal between Lindenwood and Utah Valley university Friday, May 18, 2012 at Rio Tinto Stadium. (Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)

SANDY — Lindenwood showed their class against a good Utah Valley team in the first college matchup of the day, beating Utah Valley 57-10 on Friday in Rio Tinto Stadium.

Lindenwood advances to Saturday’s DII championship vs. Salisbury at 2 p.m. The game will be streamed live at KSL.com and deseretnews.com.

The Lions played a physical and structured brand of rugby and went into halftime with a 21-0 lead.

Utah Valley couldn’t stage a comeback despite a brave second half performance, and now Lindenwood will have a shot at its first national title.

Tyler Black, a former USA Junior All-American, was excellent in the match leading with defense and a dynamic attacking style.  Lindenwood ran away with it in the end with a final score of 57-10.

Lindenwood 57
Tries: Penalty try, Black (2), Shirley, Duff, Findlay, Magee, Russell, White
Conversions: Davis (5), Duff
Utah Valley 10
Tries: Afu, Araujo