April 3, 2006
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -
Competing against six other Missouri Valley Conference teams, the Illinois State women's golf team sits tied for third place overall and tied for second out of the Valley teams at the end of round-one of the Missouri State Payne Stewart Memorial Invitational. Carding a 36-hole score of 651, the `Birds shot 333 in round-one and 318 in round-two.
Assistant coach Pina Gentile felt the weather had an impact on the `Birds play.
"Today was a pretty tough day weather wise," said Gentile. "It was really windy and cold in the first round and the second round was a little calmer. We had a couple of bad holes that cost us a lot of shots in that first round. The last part of the day was better to see because Ashlie turned around from her first-round score of 90 and came in with a 78 for round two. Sam's 75 was a much better performance in comparison with the first round."
Samantha Richdale had the lowest round for the Redbirds and it was the calmer second round of 75. Her first round of 80 totaled a 36-hole score of 155, good enough for a tie for third place. Hilary Anderson with the second lowest round of the day for the `Birds is tied for tenth place with 159 (79,80) . Ashlie Rose, turning her score around from round one, is tied for 27th place with 168 (90,78). Marci Hill is tied for 49th place with 174 (89,85) and one stroke behind teammate Hill is Olivia Campos tied for 51st place with 174 (85,90).
Gentile saw the team struggle through some of the more difficult holes on the course.
"The thing that really hurt us, was a couple holes," said Gentile. "Sam took a nine on a par three, adding six extra strokes. Some of those difficult holes helped elevate our score higher then what we want them to be. We can only hope we play those holes better and take it from there. Every round will help us prepare for conference and the turn around in scores from the first round to the second round shows we are getting better."
Arkansas-Little Rock is in first place at the end of day one with a 36-hole score of 621 (315,306). Host Missouri State is the leading Valley team and sits in second with 645 (322,323). Tied for third place with Illinois State is Bradley with 651. Following ISU is Oral Roberts in fifth with 653. Southern Illinois sits in sixth, Drury University is in seventh, Northern Iowa is in eighth, Northeastern State is in ninth and UMKC is in tenth. Following tenth is Creighton, South Dakota State, Evansville, Eastern Illinois and St. Louis.
Gentile is confident in where her team stands heading into day two.
"I feel pretty good about our position faring with other schools," said Gentile. "Every time we tee up, I like to think that we get better. As we go into tomorrow we look to shave some strokes here and there. Four scores in the 70s would be great."
The Redbirds head into the final day of the tournament with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start Tuesday, April 4 at the Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, Mo.
