Tuesday, March 11, 2008

PINEHURST, N.C. (March 11, 2008) - While the ETSU women's golf team enjoyed two days atop the team leaderboard at the 2008 Women's Golf Pinehurst Challenge, it took a tournament best team score of 295 from No. 28-ranked East Carolina to dash the Buccaneers title hopes Tuesday during final round play at Pinehurst No. 8.

ETSU finished in second place, 10 strokes back of the Pirates, but the Bucs are still highly encouraged by their two-event, weeklong spring break swing through the South. Having won the South Alabama Lady Jaguar Invitational and nearly winning a second straight event, head coach Stefanie Reynolds is excited about the future.

"Were obviously disappointed we couldn't hold on, but the big thing is we're putting ourselves in position to win and we are going to win more," Reynolds said. "Every time we play at this level we have more experience being in the lead and learning to deal with that pressure, and that will only make us better. You can't win them all, but we gave a great effort. I was really proud of Lucy (Gould) and Laura (Jansone). Both had great finishes."

Jansone, a sophomore from Jurmala, Latvia, led ETSU by finishing in a tie for fourth after posting a 77 on Tuesday. She ended the event eight strokes back of Charleston's Steffi Kirchmayer, the tournament's individual champion.

Meanwhile, Gould, a junior from Bargoed, Wales, was the other Buccaneer to place in the Top 10, finishing tied for seventh. Senior Maria Ringdahl (Farjestaden, Sweden) finished 31^st, sophomore Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) ended tied for 49^th, and senior Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) tied for 59^th.

Reynolds said her team is looking forward to a two-week break to get back to work at the Warren-Greene Golf Center.

"Now we have a couple of weeks to take all the positives from this trip and work on getting better," Reynolds said. "It will be good to get home, practice and prepare for our next event."

The Bucs will return to action March 31 in the John Kirk/Lady Panther Intercollegiate hosted by Georgia State in Stockbridge, Ga. For more on ETSU women's golf, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women's golf link.