You were first place in your rugby conference going away last year. So what do you do for an encore?
 
You pitch a shutout for an entire month.
 
Coming in having scored 134 points in two matches over the first two weeks of the regular season, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team more than doubled that total over a 24-hour span this weekend, heading to central California and pitching a 59-0 shutout over UC-Santa Barbara Saturday, then heading east to Los Angeles Sunday afternoon for an even more dominant 86-0 victory over UCLA. More importantly, the Lopes' 279 points scored is overshadowed by the fact that they have yet to allow a single point to any of their four opponents this season. The wins keep the Lopes firmly on top of the Pacific Desert Rugby Conference standings with three games left to play.
 
Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney has been able to sit back and watch a combination of experience and young phenoms come together for a balanced attack throughout the first month of the season, and the California trip was no exception. Nine different Lopes' players found the try zone, with seniors Lauren Campbell and Angelique Schrock leading the way with a pair of tries each.
 
The three-hour drive to L.A. was even more productive as again, there were nine Lopes' scorers, and while Campbell and Schrock both had multiple tries again against the Bruins, and fellow senior Kloe Williams had a 'hat trick', the future of the program also came to the forefront. Lopes' freshman Abigail Stafford scored her second and third tries of the weekend Sunday and sophomore forward Arianna Topping and junior back D'Ondra Bomar added tries as well. In Mahoney's search to replace graduated kicker Samantha Garcia, Topping and freshman Anika Long have emerged, with each booting six two-point conversion attempts through the uprights in the two matches combined.
 
It's only the edge of March, but the Lopes are gearing up for their final home match of the season this Saturday, March 1 at GCU Soccer Stadium on the GCU campus. The Lopes will host the newest PDRC member, Claremont Colleges, who joined the fold last season when they moved up from Division 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 11AM, admission is FREE, and 10 seniors will be honored prior to the match as part of Senior Day activities.