DiLisio, Kan advance to quarterfinals in Pennsylvania Women's Amateur

   Three former champions head a talented group of players who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Grace Course Thursday.

   Heading the list of former champions advancing is Notre Dame sophomore Isabella DiLisio, who captured the title in 2014 at Bent Creek Country Club. DiLisio, who won the 2014 PIAA Class AAA title as a junior at Mount St. Joseph, defeated Kate Granahan, 2 and 1, in an opening-round match.

   DiLisio will renew an old scholastic rivalry when she takes on Wake Forest junior Erica Herr, a two-time PIAA champion at Council Rock North, in Friday morning’s quarterfinals. Herr claimed a 5 and 4 victory over reigning two-time Pennsylvania Junior champion Kaitlyn Lees, a junior at Agnes Irwin.

   DiLisio’s Notre Dame teammate, Alison Snakard, gave defending champion Katie Miller all she could handle before falling on the 22^nd hole. Snakard was also a teammate of DiLisio’s at the Mount.

Miller will face former Lower Merion standout Alessandra Liu in the quarterfinals. Liu, who just missed making match play in last week’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club, defeated Shannon Gormley, 2 and 1.

   The third former champion to advance was 2010 winner Aurora Kan, the former Chichester High and Purdue standout. Kan, who qualified for match play at Rolling Green last week, downed Shannon Weber, 3 and 1.

   Kan will face Madelein Herr, Erica’s younger sister who won the District One Class AAA title as a senior at Council Rock North last fall. Madelein Herr, who will play collegiately at Penn State, edged her soon-to-be Nittany Lion teammate Cara Basso, a former Villa Maria Academy standout, 1-up.

   The most notable match-play casualty in the first round was qualifying medalist Brynn Walker, who dropped a 2 and 1 decision to former Central Dauphin standout Allison Cooper. Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, will head for North Carolina to begin her collegiate career.

   Walker’s loss also prevented an interesting quarterfinal matchup with an old scholastic rival, Penn State sophomore Jackie Rogowicz, who defeated Meghan Fahey, a junior at Agnes Irwin who won the Inter-Ac League individual title at the Academy of Notre Dame this spring, 5 and 4. Rogowicz, a two-time District One champion at Pennsbury, also teed it up at Rolling Green last week and saw her bid to make match play fall short in a playoff.

   Among the match-play casualties in the opening round of the first flight were former Springfield High standout Samantha Miller, who fell, 6 and 5, to Mia Barchetti and recent Unionville graduate Kate Evanko, who fell to Julianne Lee, 1-up. Evanko was in the field at Rolling Green last week, but failed to make match play.

   Stani Schiavone, who lost to Aurora Kan in a playoff for the 2010 PIAA championship while at Bangor, advanced in the first flight with a 2 and 1 victory over Amy Loughney. Schiavone received the Kim Moore Spirit Award from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association as a senior at Mississippi in 2015.

   Aurora Kan’s younger sister Caprian, a senior at Chichester, advanced in the second flight with a 6 and 4 victory over Madeline Gordon. Another second-flight winner was former Owen J. Roberts standout Maddie Sager, the runnerup to Walker at the state tournament last fall. Sager cruised to a 9 and 8 victory over Kelsey Luber.

   In what is always a competitive Senior Division at the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur, two players with distinguished resumes, Noreen Mohler and Liz Haines, will meet in the quarterfinals. Mohler, a three-time winner of the Pennsylvania Senior Women’s Amateur title, cruised to a 7 and 6 victory over Annie Vanzant in the opening round while Haines, runnerup in the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, ousted Marji Goldman, 5 and 4.