ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - When only 10 shots separated the Concordia-St. Paul women's golf team from second place after one round of play at the Holiday Inn Express Classic, the Golden Bears came out in round two and delivered a 14 stroke improvement on Tuesday at St. Joseph Country Club.
But the team didn't get the bump in the standings that it counted on, carding an eighth place finish as all but two of the tournament's top-9 teams also dropped their score in round two. Concordia finished out at 345-331 for a 676 final team score, finishing six shots ahead of Winona State and 13 ahead of Upper Iowa.
The Golden Bears were five shots behind Minnesota State for seventh and were 12 strokes back of third place Wayne State among the Northern Sun squads at the tournament, which was hosted by Missouri Western State and won by Rogers State (627).
Three Golden Bears finished +20 overall and were part of a seven player tie for 14th place. In round two,
Anna Tollette led the team with an 80, trimming four shots off her card in round two, while
Isabella Dory matched her first round of 82 with another in the second, and
Jessica Hagman produced rounds of 81-83.
Erika Olson and
Jilli Newman also took a big step forward in the second round after they each shot 98 in the first round. Today, Olson came in with a 12-shot difference with an 86 while Newman made a seven stroke improvement.
Morgan Brasser of Fort Hays State won the tournament with a +2 (74-72) after trailing Jessica Green of Rogers State by a stroke following the first round. Green finished second (+7) by a five shot margin. Concordia's trio in 14th were the third-highest NSIC finishers along with one other golfer from Upper Iowa.
Overall, Dory played +1 golf on the tournament's par-5 holes, the fourth-best mark in the field while Hagman (+3) and Tollette (+4) were each among the par-5 leaders, as well. Tollette shot a team-best +7 on par-4 holes while Dory and Hagman were each +7 on par-3 holes.
Hagman's three birdies led the team and were seventh-most among tournament competitors and Dory and Tollette each led CSP with 17 pars overall.
The Golden Bears have one more tournament before the NSIC Championships (April 22-24), competing April 11-12 at the Wayne State Invite at Wayne Country Club.
