Sunday, March 09, 2008

PINEHURST, N.C. (March 9, 2008) - The ETSU women's golf team placed three players in the Top 10 on the individual leaderboard during Sunday's first round of the 2008 Women's Golf Pinehurst Challenge, giving the Buccaneers the team lead heading into Monday's second round at the Pinehurst No. 8 Golf Course.

The Bucs, coming off a team championship last week in South Alabama's Lady Jaguar Invitational, were led by senior Maria Ringdahl (Farjestaden, Sweden) and junior Lucy Gould (Bargoed, Wales), both of whom finished tied for third at 3-over-par 75. Meanwhile, sophomore Laura Jansone (Jurmala, Latvia) is tied for eighth at 4-over 76, as ETSU holds a four stroke lead over second place Chattanooga.

"It's nice to see this again from our team, especially considering the tough conditions and the fact that high winds kept us from playing a practice round yesterday," said ETSU head coach Stefanie Reynolds, whose team finished ahead of No. 28 East Carolina and No. 37 Georgia State. "I think our team likes the feeling of being at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day. The women on our team are pumped up about winning our last tournament, and right now we want to continue that feeling."

Ringdahl, Gould and Jansone are within striking distance of the individual leaders Steffi Kirchmayer of Charleston and Christine Wolf of Chattanooga, who are both at 1-over 73. As for other ETSU results, senior Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) and sophomore Sinead O'Sullivan (Galway, Ireland) are tied for 39^th and 80^th, respectively.

The Pinehurst Challenge will continue Tuesday with second round play, and third round action is set for Wednesday. Visit ETSUBucs.com following each day's action for a complete wrap up.