Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Kent Youel Invitational
Women's Golf Wraps Up Fall Season in Hawaii
10/27/2004 | 12:00:00 | Women's Golf
Oct. 27, 2004
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
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OAHU, Hawaii- The Southern Illinois women's golf team came back strong in the final round of the Kent Youel Invitational having shot a 316-323-306--945 to finish 14th in the two-day tournament. Defending NCAA National Champion UCLA (859) shot five-under-par to win the 15-team tournament.
"We really played a lot better today," said head coach Diane Daugherty. "We missed out two weeks ago with the two-round rainout at Arkansas State. I realized that the team hadn't walked 36 holes of golf since September 10 and that really set us back."
Kelly Gerlach (79-81-73--233) moved up 17 places from day one to finish 42nd while Christine Zoerlein (79-79-78--236) finished 49th. Samantha Sutzer (82-80-78--240) and Josie Lowder (82-83-77--242) finished 57th and 59th while Stephanie Pate (76-89-82--247) finished 69th.
Arizona State (878) took second to UCLA by 19 strokes, while Oklahoma (893) finished third and Oregon (895) fourth. University of California at Irvine (904) finished fifth and Boise State (904) rounded out the top six.
The Salukis who finished 17th of 17 teams a year ago, beat host Hawaii (947) and finished just three strokes out of 12th place.
"We beat the host team Hawaii and that's important," said Daugherty. "This was a great trip and a great opportunity to tee it up against UCLA one of the nations best. It gives the girls a chance to see some of the top teams in the nation and realize that they don't hit the ball any different than we do."
The Hawaii tournament wraps up the fall season for SIU. The Salukis will get back to competition March 3-4 when they travel to Scottsdale, Ariz. for the East/West Rio Verde Invitational.
Gerlach led SIU this fall with a 76.2 stroke average through 10 rounds, shooting eight of those rounds in the 70s. The defending Missouri Valley Conference co-champion placed top ten in three of four tournaments, including a tie for first at the Arkansas State Lady Indian Classic, losing a play-off to finish second.
