Seton Hall is never going to be the kind of women’s golf
program that is challenging for a national championship, but there are some smaller
goals that suddenly seem within reach for the Pirates.
Seton Hall, bolstered by several PIAA standouts from recent
years, finished off a solid fall campaign with a runaway victory in the Brown Bear
Invitational. Which meant the opener of the spring portion of their season,
this weekend’s Rio Verde Invitational, hosted by Western Michigan at the Quail
Run Golf Course in Rio Verde, Ariz., presented the Pirates with an opportunity
to do something no other Seton Hall team has ever done – win back-to-back
tournaments.
And, in a gritty, determined effort, Seton Hall did exactly
that Sunday, chasing down Akron for a one-shot victory. Seton Hall is 107th
in the latest Golfstat rankings, and
was competing against teams also ranked in the 100s, but the Pirates got it
done. And they did it without any of their players playing great, but with
everybody contributing, with people picking each other up. It’s what good teams
do and that’s what Seton Hall is right now.
After struggling in an opening-round 307, Seton Hall still
only trailed Akron by a shot. The Pirates put together a solid 8-over 296 in
Saturday’s middle round while Akron carded a 5-over 293 and took a four-shot
edge over Seton Hall into Sunday’s final round.
Led by a 2-over-par 74 by Lizzie Win, a sophomore from
Sylvania, Ohio, Seton Hall posted a final-round 299 to Akron’s 304. That gave
the Pirates a 38-over 902 total, one shot better than the
903 total posted by the Zips.
Arkansas State was another six shots behind Akron in third
at 909 after a final-round 305, Bradley finished fourth at 913 after a
final-round 299 and Wichita State was fifth in the 17-team field at 917 after a
final-round 306. Arkansas State matched Akron’s 293 in the middle round, which
was the low team round for the tournament.
Akron was strong at the top its lineup, accounting for the
top two spots in the individual standings. Danielle Nicholson, a junior from
Geneva, Ohio, repeated as the Rio Verde individual champion with a 2-under 214
total over the 6,128-yard, par-72 Quail Run layout. The course played tough all
weekend, but Nicholson tamed it with a 4-under 68, the only sub-70 round of the
tournament, in Saturday’s second round and finished up with a 2-under 70.
Teammate Jacinta Pikunas, a freshman from Youngstown, Ohio,
was the runnerup, six shots behind Nicholson with a 4-over 220 total. Pikunas
opened with a 1-under 71 and finished up with a 74.
But Seton Hall was balanced and deep. The Pirates were led
by freshman Mia Kness, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Peters
Township. Kness opened with a 73 and added rounds of 76 and 75 to finish in a
group tied for seventh at 8-over 224.
Win and sophomore Maddie Sager, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup
in 2015 as a senior at Owen J. Roberts, both ended up in the group tied for 16th
at 227. Win opened with an uncharacteristic 83, but bounced back in a big way
with a 2-under 70 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with that
final-round 74. Sager had rounds of 74, 75 and 78.
Sophomore Sammie Staudt, a standout at Coatesville, and
Cassie Pantellas, a senior from Canton, Ohio., finished in a group tied for 36th
at 233. Staudt, like Win, opened with an 83, but bounced back with a pair of
75s. Pantellas opened with a 77 and added rounds of 81 and 75.
The 77 by Pantellas in the opening round was big when Win
and Staudt struggled and her final-round 75 was one of three 75s for the Hall,
allowing it to toss Sager’s 78. Win’s bounce-back 70 in the middle round kept
the Pirates in the hunt.
Seton Hall also brought along senior Macky Fouse, the 2013
PIAA Class AA champion as a senior at Central Valley who competed as
individual. And Fouse turned in a solid showing, finishing in the group tied
for 30th at 231, highlighted by a 1-over 73 in the opening round
when Quail Run was making it tough on most of the field.
Kness, Win and Sager all earned trips to the U.S. Women’s
Amateur at San Diego Country Club last summer, hinting at an improved team at Seton
Hall. The Pirates finished 40 shots behind Big East champion Georgetown last
spring in fifth place, the Hoyas earning an automatic bid to the NCAA
regionals.
Maybe that bid to the NCAA regionals is a goal worth shooting for for a Seton Hall team that seems to be playing some pretty solid
tournament golf at the moment.
Arkansas State’s Sarah Childers, a senior from Jonesboro,
Ark., finished third in the individual standings at 5-over 221, a shot behind
Akron’s Pikunas. Childers broke par with a 2-under 70 in the second round.
Wichita State’s Taryn Torgerson, a senior from Buhler, Kan., was another shot
back in fourth at 6-over 222. Torgerson matched par in the second round with a
72.
Bradley’s Taylor Ledwein, a sophomore from New Prague,
Minn., and Eastern Michigan’s Maria Connelly, a sophomore from Westerville,
Ohio., finished tied for fifth, another shot behind Torgerson at 7-over 223.
Ledwein finished strong with an even-par 72 while Connelly also climbed the
leaderboard with her final round of
1-under 71.
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