The Indiana State women's golf team will play in their fifth and final tournament of the fall on Monday and Tuesday, October 23 & 24 at the Charles Braun Intercollegiate, hosted by Evansville. This tournament returns to the Oak Meadow Country Club, which is a par-72, 6,032-yard layout and consists of two rounds.
A shotgun start will begin play on both days at 11 a.m. (ET) on both days. The field consists of Butler, Eastern Illinois, host Evansville, Fort Wayne, Green Bay, Illinois-Chicago, IUPUI, Indiana State, Lipscomb, Northern Kentucky, Southern Illinois, Tennessee State and Valparaiso. Purdue will also have an individual playing.
Indiana State's starting lineup consists of
Sophie Benetti,
Thilda Staubo,
Sierra Hargens,
Robyn Blanchard and
Dawn Turner -- making her first start of the season.
Alex Jennings,
Kayla Ryan and
Abigail Irwin will be competing as individuals. Weather is expected to be a factor with a 50 percent chance of rain on Monday and highs in the mid 50's forecasted for Tuesday.
The Sycamores are coming off a tie for fifth place at last week's Missouri Valley Conference Preview, hosted by Wichita State.
Sophie Benetti enjoyed the best tournament of her career as she opened with a round of 76 but came back with a 72 and another 76 for a total of 224 -- which her best ever score of 54 holes. She tied for 2nd place in the event and was named the MVC Women's Golfer of the Week for the first time in her career.
"Sophie has a breakthrough tournament with her second place finish and was steady all 54 holes," head coachÂ
Greg Towne said. "The team learned a lot about the course, the wind and what it takes to WIN a championship. Just the few shots that separate the top teams shouldn't be that difficult to make up if we put our minds to it."
Overall, Indiana State finished in a tie for 5th place after posting a final round of 317 which followed scores of 306 and 301 for a tournament total of 924. Northern Iowa won the event with sub-300 rounds and a final score of 907 which tied for first with the host Shockers of Wichita State. The margin was razor close as Southern Illinois and defending champion Missouri State each posted tallies of 921 just three shots ahead of the Sycamores and Bradley who tied for fifth. The Sycamores downed Loyola by seven shots as the Ramblers finished in 7th place with 931 and Illinois State was eighth with a score of 938. Drake finished 9th at 947, Valparaiso was 10th at 973 and Evansville rounded out the field at 1014.
Indiana State last won this week in the Fall of 2014.
Live results will not be available during this tournament, but there will be post-round coverage of both day's action on GoSycamores.com.
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