SIU women's golf opens 2014-15 season
09/07/2014 | 12:00:00 | Women's Golf
By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com
LEDBETTER, Ky. - The SIU women's golf team is set to open its fall season on Monday at the Jan Weaver - Murray State Invitational in Ledbetter, Ky. After weeks of preparation in the excruciating heat, the Salukis are ready to come out strong with a successful start to the season.
"This team has the same mentality that I recruit for - they love the game, they're really competitive and they're great teammates. They all feed off each other and they keep getting lower and lower with their scores," said head coach Alexis Mihelich.
Mihelich returns for her fourth year as head coach. The Salukis lost talent in graduated seniors Cassie Rushing (77.1), Ashleigh Rushing (80.2) and Alexis Gatton (84.5), but this year's team is ready to step up and pick up where last year's team left off. Top golfers Mattie Lindner, Brooke Cusumano, Xianmei Jin, Kris Grimes and Kristie Yang return in hopes of topping their performances last year. The team also welcomes freshmen Alice Ho, Jackie Biggs and Hanna Netisingha.
"I don't have just one player that's our anchor; I have five players that can play number one," Mihelich said. "Everyone on the team can beat someone else on any given day. There's really good chemistry and dynamic, and they're just really competitive players."
To prepare for the season, the Salukis have focused on capitalizing on each hole, regardless of length. Mihelich's goal for the team is to be more aware of course management and how to best approach various lengths and layouts, particularly short par-3 holes. Even one stroke, she said, can be the difference in winning or losing a tournament.
"You could base it off the fact that we didn't birdie a hole that we should have, and we bogeyed it instead. One person does that and we lose the tournament," she said. "But I've seen a lot more greens hit in regulation and a lot more birdies converted, which is why our stroke average I think will probably go down maybe 10 strokes from last year's."
The team has consistently been shooting between 290 and 300 in practice, which, according to Mihelich, is much lower than in years past. With a low practice score of 288, SIU's preseason scoring average is 298, compared to last season's 311. Mihelich hopes that the team's low scoring average will help advance SIU to a top-70 ranking throughout the season.
The Salukis return to the Jan Weaver - Murray State Invitational after a year off from the tournament last season. Sophomore Brooke Cusumano took first place at the course's collegiate tournament over the summer, and several other teammates have played the course in the past. In 2012, SIU finished in fifth place, shooting 927. The Salukis opened last season at the Redbird Invitational where they finished with a final score of 930. This season, Mihelich expects an even stronger start.
"The team wants to get out there early and establish dominance, and then they'll know what they can do and know where they need to get better from," she said. "I think we're going to have a lot better of a start than we had last year. We're hoping to come out strong so that people are trying to catch us instead of us trying to catch them."
SIU opens the season with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start with 36 holes of play on Monday and again at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday for 18 holes. The Drake Creek course will play 6,178 yards and to a par-72.
Players Mentioned
