Southern Illinois University
MSU Invitational
Southern in second after day one of MSU Invitational
09/14/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Golf
By Rico Cruz
SIUSalukis.com
MURRAY, Ky. - With three players in the top-10, the Southern Illinois women's golf team currently sits in second place at the Murray State Invitational in Murray, Ky. Southern shot a 306 on the first day and are only three shots behind first-place Murray State.
"The team is pretty consistent and they are able to keep their rounds under 80 despite any major blow up holes," head coach Alexis Mihelich said. "Today we wanted to be relaxed and focused and I think we did a great job playing one hole at a time. We haven't had any real breakout rounds, so I'm looking for a couple players to go lower tomorrow."
Brooke Cusumano shot the low round of the day for the Salukis, carding a 74 to end the day tied for second-place. Cusumano had three birdies in the first round.
"Brooke was on fire when it came to the back nine," Mihelich said. "She birdied three holes out of her last five. On Brooke's second to last hole, she hit a wrong ball and incurred a two-stroke penalty. It was really unfortunate given the circumstances. She was able to finish her last hole with a par and finish one shot out of the individual lead. I'm really confident she learned from her mistake and will go after it tomorrow."
Mattie Lindner finished two shots behind Cusumano, earning a 76 to share a tie for fourth place. Hanna Netisingha rounds out the top-10 for SIU, shooting a 77, giving her a share of seventh place. Netisingha had a pair of birdies in round one.
"Mattie wanted to bounce back from our first tournament and she did just that," Mihelich said. "She didn't let that first tournament affect her confidence. We couldn't have been in second without her performance. Hanna is the most consistent player having shot 77 three of the last four rounds. She has really stepped up her game this year. She is a reliable player that's just been bombing it and rolling the ball perfectly on the greens."
The Salukis will look to defend their tournament title in the final round of the MSU Invitational at Miller Memorial Golf Course. Round two is set to begin with a 10 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday.
SIU Team Scores
T 2. Brooke Cusumano 74
T 4. Mattie Lindner 76
T 7. Hanna Netisingha 77
T 22. Xianmei Jin 79
T 26. Sun Young Jung 80
SIU Individual Scores
T 26. Alice Ho 80
T 33 Kristie Yang 81
Overall Team Scores
- Murray State 303
- Southern Illinois 306
- SIU Edwardsville 313
- Belmont University 314
- Tennessee Tech 316
- Austin Peay State 318
- Cumberlands, U. of 322
- Lipscomb University 328
- Eastern Illinois 333
- IPFW 335
- Indiana State 339
- Tennessee State 365
Players Mentioned
