After a 15's season of non-stop offense, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team suddenly found fewer scoring opportunities this past weekend at the Collegiate Rugby Association of America's Premier 7's National Championships in Houston, Texas. The Lopes dropped three of four matches at the tournament, losing to Penn State University and Harvard University in their first two pool-play matches before posting their lone win – a 44-0 thrashing of the University of New Haven (Connecticut) – to finish pool play with a 1-2 record. Their lone Sunday match was a 35-5 defeat at the hands of Davenport University (Michigan) in the bowl semifinals. Their final match – an 11^th-place matchup against West Chester University from Pennsylvania – was cancelled.
 
On the surface, the 1-3 tournament record may look disappointing, but Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney wasn't altogether surprised.
 
"We knew we'd be at a disadvantage, since we were the only team in the field who plays 15's in the spring," said Mahoney. "Our last 15's conference matchup ended two weeks before the tournament, so we had little time to prepare and adjust to the 7's style of play."
 
After finishing 4^th in last season's Collegiate Rugby Championship May Madness 7's tournament, expectations for this event were high. When they discovered that their first pool-play opponent this time around was none other than the team that beat them, 34-7, in last year's 3^rd-place match – Penn State University – revenge came immediately to the Lopes' minds. Sofia Rico's try in the second minute gave the Lopes hope, but unfortunately, that was the last time the Lopes got close to scoring as the Nittany Lions scored 17 unanswered points to pull away with a 24-5 victory. In Match #2, the Lopes again got an early try from Amaya De La Cruz, but were shut down after that and never led as Harvard ran away in the second half for a 34-5 victory. Needing a shot of confidence, GCU's final pool-play match was exactly what the doctor ordered as the Lopes' defense clamped down on New Haven, keeping the ball for most of the match, and getting a balanced offensive effort to run away with it. Six different Lopes found the try zone-led by a pair each from Rico and Maleah Stewart.
 
Sunday's matchup pitted the Lopes against Davenport, who had also gone 1-2 in pool play, but had scored in double figures in all three of their Saturday matches. The Panthers picked up where they left off from the day before, jumping out to a 7-0 lead in the first minute on an Ashley Cowdrey try. Once again, the Lopes countered early with a try from Lauren Campbell, then were shut down as Cowdrey scored again in the 3^rd and 8^th minutes of the match to put it out of reach in a 35-5 DU win.
 
"While we knew there were disadvantages, I was still proud to see how our responded and stayed in the fight," said Mahoney. "There were little mistakes we made that resulted in opponents' tries, where if we had time to play as a group of 7's, it would have been much more competitive. We will look to find ways to devote more time to 7's in future years to even the playing field."
 
The Lopes finished the 15's season with an impressive 8-2 overall mark and their second straight Pacific Desert Rugby Conference title.