GREENVILLE, N.C. — The Florida women’s golf team hasn’t left itself much wiggle room if it hopes to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships in coach Jan Dowling’s first year as head coach.
After a blazing start—a 4-under-par total of 284—in Thursday’s first round at the NCAA East Regional hosted by East Carolina University at the par-72, 6,321-yard Ironwood Golf Club, the Gators, who were four shots out of the team lead, slipped to eighth place Friday after totaling 297 in the second round for a two-round total of 5-over-par 581, 13 shots behind second-round team leader Duke.
The top 8 teams after Saturday’s final round will advance along with the top two individuals not on those teams to the NCAA Division I Women’s Championship at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, N.C. Though the Gators are just six shots out of fifth place, they are only two shots ahead of the teams tied for ninth—Texas Christian and Texas Tech—with another two teams (North Carolina and East Tennessee State) within six shots of them.
Following Duke, which shot a 10-under 278 for a two-day total of 568, are Tennessee (287-570), Pepperdine (290-571), South Carolina (291-574), Auburn (295-575), Vanderbilt (287-579), Tulane (295-580) and Florida.
Mia Piccio, who with fellow freshman Isabelle Lendl opened with 3-under-par 69s, is tied for 29th individually after a second-round, 4-over-par 76 that left her at 1-over-par 145, six shots behind four golfers who shared the second-round individual lead—South Carolina’s Katie Burnett (72-139), Duke’s Kim Donovan (68-139), Pepperdine’s Danielle Kang (72-139) and Texas Tech’s Rosalyn Kim (69-139). At 140 were first-round leader Nina Muehl of East Tennessee State (76) and Tennessee’s Erica Popson (68). Currently, the teams of Kim and Muehl are not among the top eight teams and thus they are the leading individuals.
Lendl shot a 5-over-par 77 and was tied for 35th with her sophomore sister Marika Lendl, who carded her second straight 73, at 146. One stroke behind the Lendls is sophomore Evan Jensen, who carded a 73 Friday. Another sophomore, Andrea Watts, shot 75 and was tied for 55th at 148.
Florida’s golfers are paired with those from seventh-place Tulane and ninth-place Texas Christian beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
EAST REGIONAL / East Carolina University / Greenville, N.C. / Ironwood Golf Club (par: 72; yardage: 6,321) / Friday, May 7 second round
TEAMS
1. (3) Duke 568 (290-278) (-8); 2. (18) Tennessee 570 (283-287) (-6); 3. (11) Pepperdine 571 (281-290) (-5); 4. (29) South Carolina 574 (283-291) (-2); 5. (4) Auburn 575 (280-295) (-1); 6. (15) Vanderbilt 579 (292-287) (+3); 7. (33) Tulane 580 (285-295) (+4); 8. (22) Florida 581 (284-297) (+5).
9. (tie) (19) Texas Christian 583 (287-296) (+7) and (43) Texas Tech 583 (285-298) (+7); 11. (27) North Carolina 586 (294-292) (+10); 12. (48) East Tennessee State 589 (285-304) (+13); 13. (9) Wake Forest 591 (296-295) (+15); 14. (37) Chattanooga 594 (293-301) (+18); 15. East Carolina 598 (293-305) (+22); 16. (tie) (44) Georgia State 600 (290-310) (+24) and (38) Washington 600 (305-295) (+24); 18. Furman 601 (305-296) (+25); 19. Coastal Carolina 603 (307-296) (+27); 20. (tie) (47) Campbell 604 (297-307) (+28) and Stetson 604 (298-306) (+28); 22. College of Charleston 607 (297-310) (+31); 23. Charleston Southern 633 (315-318) (+57); 24. Fairleigh Dickinson 658 (327-331) (+82).
8.(22) Florida 581 (284-297) (+5): T29. Mia Piccio 145 (69-76) (+1); T35. Isabelle Lendl 146 (69-77) (+2) and Marika Lendl 146 (73-73) (+2); T44. Evan Jensen 147 (74-73) (+3); T55. Andrea Watts 148 (73-75) (+4).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
139 (-5): (67) Katie Burnett (South Carolina 67-72; (82) Kim Donovan (Duke) 71-68; Danielle Kang (Pepperdine) 67-72; Rosalyn Kim (Texas Tech) 70-69. (T1)
140 (-4): Nina Muehl (East Tennessee State) 64-76; Erica Popson (Tennessee) 72-68. (T5)
141 (-3): Iliska Verwey (Georgia State) 70-71; Jessica Wallace (Pepperdine) 67-74; (72) Carlie Yadloczky (Auburn) 68-73. (T7)
142 (-2): (8) Lindy Duncan (Duke) 72-70; Christine Wolf (Chattanooga) 72-70. (T10)
143 (-1): (74) Alexandria Buelow (Stetson) 72-71; (76) Diana Cantu (Tennessee) 69-74; Corrine Carr (South Carolina) 72-71; Brooke Goodwin (Vanderbilt) 73-70; (23) Stefanie Kenoyer (Furman) 72-71; Stacey Kim (Duke) 72-71; Louise Kristersson (Texas Christian) 70-73; (14) Nathalie Mansson (Tennessee) 72-71; (27) Candace Schepperle (Auburn) 71-72. (T12)
144 (E): Brooke Beeler (Texas Christian) 73-71; (87) Valentine Derrey (Texas Christian) 69-75; Megan Grehan (Vanderbilt) 74-70; Maribel Lopez (Tulane) 71-73; Charlotte Lorentzen (Georgia State) 70-74; Sara Monberg (Tennessee) 70-74; (43) Michelle Shin (Wake Forest) 74-70; (61) Alison Whitaker (Duke) 75-69. (T21)
145 (+1): Mia Piccio (Florida) 69-76; (3) Marina Alex (Vanderbilt) 72-73; (77) Janine Fellows (Tulane) 72-73; Courtney Gunter (North Carolina) 71-74; (34) Lisa McCloskey (Pepperdine) 70-75; (100) Kate Thomas (North Carolina) 74-71. (T29)
CENTRAL REGIONAL / Indiana University / Columbus, Ind. / Otter Creek Golf Course (par: 72; yardage: 6,417) / Friday, May 7 second round
TEAMS
1. (5) Southern California 603 (299-304) (+27); 2. (2) Arizona State 607 (297-310) (+31); 3. (26) Oklahoma State 613 (305-308) (+37); 4. (31) Oregon 621 (305-316) (+45); 5. (8) Purdue 623 (303-320 (+47); 6. (21) New Mexico 624 (306-318) (+48); 7. (16) Denver 625 (312-313) (+49); 8. (tie) (49) Mississippi 626 (309-317) (+50), (10) Michigan State 626 (310-316) (+50) and (14) Georgia 626 (312-314) (+50).
11. (34) Kent State 628 (309-319) (+52); 12. (23) Florida State 629 (308-321) (+53); 13. (46) San Diego State 635 (319-316) (+59); 14. (28) Louisville 639 (315-324) (+63); 15. (40) Northwestern 643 (321-322) (+67); 16. Baylor 645 (316-329) (+69); 17. (tie) Indiana 646 (318-328) (+70) and Illinois State 646 (317-329) (+70); 19. (42) Notre Dame 647 (328-319) (+71); 20. North Carolina State 652 (328-324) (+76); 21. Tulsa 654 (324-330) (+78); 22. Murray State 683 (336-347) (+107); 23. Detroit-Mercy 706 (352-354) (+130); 24. Jackson State 714 (357-357) (+138).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
146 (+2): (12) Lizette Salas (Southern California) 75-71; (46) Victoria Park (Oklahoma State) 72-74.
147 (+3): (88) Martina Gavier (Kent State) 72-75.
149 (+7): (50) Kendra Little (Oregon) 70-79; (5) Jodi Ewart (New Mexico) 72-77; Malin Enarsson (San Diego State) 72-77.
150 (+8) (18) Juliana Murcia (Arizona State) 71-79; (6) Caroline Hedwall (Oklahoma State) 77-73.
151 (+9): Cyna Rodriguez (Southern California) 74-77; (33) Jaclyn Sweeney (Arizona State) 75-76; (80) Thea Hoffmeister (Purdue) 70-81; (20) Marta Silva Zamora (Georgia) 75-76.
152 (+10): Inah Park (Southern California) 83-79.
WEST REGIONAL / Stanford University / Stanford, Calif. / Stanford Golf Course (par: 71; yardage: 6,115) / Friday, May 7 second round
TEAMS
1. (7) Arizona 585 (291-294) (+17); 2. (1) UCLA 588 (292-296) (+20); 3. (6) Alabama 595 (295-300) (+27); 4. (13) Virginia 596 (291-305) (+28); 5. (tie) (24) California 597 (292-305) (+29), (20) Louisiana State 597 (302-295) (+29) and (32) Texas 597 (293-304) (+29); 8. Iowa State 599 (302-297) (+31).
9. (tie) (17) Stanford 601 (297-304) (+33), (25) Texas A&M 601 (299-302) (+33) and (36) UNLV 601 (295-306) (+33); 12. (45) San Jose State 602 (303-299) (+34); 13. (tie) (12) Ohio State 603 (296-307) (+35); 14. Colorado State 606 (304-302) (+38); 15. (35) Arkansas 607 (308-299) (+39); 16. (tie) (30) UC Davis 615 (308-307) (+47) and (39) UC Irvine 615 (302-313) (+47); 18. Maryland 622 (316-306) (+54); 19. (tie) Idaho 626 (312-314) (+58) and Portland State 626 (309-317) (+58); 21. (tie) (41) San Francisco 637 (312-325) (+69) and Oral Roberts 637 (319-318) (+69); 23. Texas State 640 (317-323) (+72); 24. Pennsylvania 652 (329-323) (+84).
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
141 (-1): Madeleine Ziegert (San Jose State) 67-74.
142 (E): (16) Megan McChrystal (Louisiana State) 71-71.
143 (+1): (11) Camilla Lennarth (Alabama) 73-70; (45) Calie Nielson (Virginia) 72-71.
144 (+2): Pia Halbig (California) 71-73; (99) Nikki Koller (Arizona) 71-73.
145 (+3): (32) Brittany Altomare (Virginia) 70-75; Alejandra Guacaneme (UNLV) 71-74; (4) Stephanie Kono (UCLA) 72-73; Alejandra Lianeza (Arizona) 72-73; (24) Margarita Ramos (Arizona) 71-74.
146 (+4): (51) Sally Watson (Stanford) 75-71.
147 (+5): (47) Julia Boland (Texas A&M) 72-75; Madison Pressel (Texas) 71-76; Haley Stephens (Texas) 70-77; (98) Glory Yang (UCLA) 75-72.