Sunday, October 01, 2006

            WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (Oct. 1, 2006) - In all but two years of hosting the Great Smokies Intercollegiate, the Western Carolina women's golf team has found a way to defend its home course and take the championship trophy. The Catamounts did it again Sunday, holding off a determined but ultimately heartbroken ETSU squad in dramatic fashion.

            Getting a chip-in eagle on the final hole and a pair of birdies from another player late in the round, the Catamounts overcame first-round leader ETSU, making up a three-stroke deficit and eventually finishing one shot ahead of the Bucs Sunday at the Waynesville Country Club. ETSU fired a team score of 289-298=587 to finished eight strokes ahead of third place Winthrop. It is the second straight year the Bucs have finished second to Western on the team leaderboard.

            "We felt confident all day," said ETSU head coach Stefanie Reynolds, whose team shot a school record for first round score with a 289 Saturday and led by three entering Sunday's play. "We were playing well and Western wasn't doing anything special. But then one of their girls chipped in for eagle on the last hole and another had a pair of birdie putts late in the round. That flurry allowed them to catch us.

"We were all solid, but we just didn't have anyone go really low. They beat us today, and you have to give credit to Western Carolina. I just hate they beat us by one and on the last hole like that. It was a shocker and really gut-wrenching.

Individually, ETSU placed four players in the top 14, with sophomore Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales) and freshman Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) tying for 10^th at 2-over 147. Junior Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) and freshman Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) finished tied for 12^th and 14^th, respectively. Austin Peay's Staci Lynch finished with an impressive win, firing a 4-under 170 to take the individual championship by two strokes.

            The Bucs must rebound from their disappointment quickly, as they will be back in action later this week at the Lady Paladin Intercollegiate hosted by Furman in Greenville, S.C. Play begins on Thursday and fans can keep up with the team by visiting ETSUBucs.com at the conclusion of each day's play.