Elon finishes fourth at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

GREENVILLE, N.C. – With rainy conditions in the Greenville area, the Elon women's golf team battled through a delay and a canceled second round Monday to finish in fourth place at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate. Tuesday’s final round has been canceled due to unplayable conditions at the par-72, 6,004-yard Greenville Country Club.

Torrential downpours on Monday forced officials to shorten the first day of the two-day event to just 18 holes while also leaving the course in poor playing condition on Tuesday.

The Phoenix, which shot a 302, was led by Martyna Mierzwa, whose even-par round of 72 has her in a tie for fourth individually in the field of 104 players.

Mierzwa began her day with a birdie on the par-3 eighth hole. She followed that up with another birdie to quickly get to 2-under. She would finish the round with four birdies.

Emily Brooks fired a 2-over 74 to sit in a tie for 15th. Brooks notched birdies on both the par-4 17th and the par-5 18th holes. She was followed by Sunna Vidisdottir, who carded a 77 on Monday. She is tied for 33rd and had two birdies.

In a tie for 48th are Katie Partridge and Kathryn Buckingham. Both posted 79s during their first rounds of the tournament. Partridge tallied two birdies and Buckingham had one.

Maryland's Juliet Vongphoumy's round of 68 led the field on day one. She will begin Tuesday's final round with a two-stroke edge on Boston College's Cristina McQuiston.

The team lead after day one was shared by Maryland and UNCW at 295. Old Dominion's 301 has the Monarchs third.

The Phoenix leads 33rd-ranked Coastal Carolina, Southern Miss and Longwood by one stroke. Host and 38th-rated East Carolina sits eighth at 305. Boston College (307) and Yale (308) round out the top 10.

Other Southern Conference programs in the 20-team event are Samford (11th; 309), UNCG (T12th; 311) and Western Carolina (T19th; 325).

Elon will conclude its fall schedule at the Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah Island, S.C., on Oct. 27-28.

Samford finishes 11^th at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Final-round action of the 2012 Lady Pirate Intercollegiate has been canceled due to unplayable conditions at the par-72, 6,004-yard Greenville Country Club, it was announced Tuesday by tournament officials.

The two-day, 54-hole event was reduced to an 18-hole tournament after torrential rain Monday afternoon that caused the cancelation of the final 36 holes.

Samford posted a final team score of 309 during Monday’s lone round of competition and finished in 11th place at the talent-laden Lady Pirate Intercollegiate. In a hotly contested tournament, the Bulldogs finished just nine strokes out of second place.

With the rain-shortened event, Maryland claimed the 2012 team title for the third consecutive year with a 7-over-par 295. The Terrapins and UNCW were tied after 18 holes, but due to the fifth player tiebreaker rule, Jessica Gregory’s 11-over 83 won out for Maryland over Danielle Lamy’s 16-over 88.

Old Dominion (301) finished third and was followed by fourth-place Elon (302). No. 33-ranked Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss finished tied for fifth place at 303, while host East Carolina finished 10 strokes behind the leaders at 17-over-par 305.

Individually, Samford’s Natalie Mitchell led the way with an 18-hole score of 2-over-par 74. The Bulldogs’ junior native of Germantown, Tenn., earned a 15th-place finish with her performance at the Greenville Country Club.

Samford sophomore Bailey Gray posted a final score of 76 at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate, while Emily Stallings added a 79 and Anna Heim tallied an 80. Senior Kayla Turner rounded out the Bulldogs’ scoring with an 18-hole score of 81 on Monday.

Maryland's Juliet Vongphoumy claimed Individual medalist honors with a 4-under-par 68 to finish two strokes ahead of Boston College’s Cristina McQuiston (70) and three strokes ahead of UNCW’s Lori Beth Adams (71). Eight golfers finished tied for fourth at even par and were named to the all-tournament squad (top five finishers including ties).

The Samford University women’s golf team will next be in action Oct. 22-23, as the Bulldogs travel to Memphis, Tenn., for the 2012 FedEx Memphis Women’s Intercollegiate to be held at Ridgeway Country Club.

UNCG finishes 12^th at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

GREENVILLE, N.C. – UNCG sophomore women's golfers Fanny Cnops and Berglind Bjornsdottir  both fired 2-over par 74s during round one of the rain-shortened Lady Pirate Intercollegiate on Monday afternoon, leading the Spartans to 12th place overall.

The 20-team event was limited to just 18 holes after having round two canceled Monday due to heavy rain and lightning. The final round of the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate was canceled Tuesday morning after conditions were deemed unplayable.

Cnops and Bjornsdottir finished in a tie for 15th overall, six shots off the lead of Maryland's Juliet Vongphoumy, who carded a 4-under 68 for the 18-hole lead. Cnops fired four birdies throughout the day Monday while Bjornsdottir tallied three birdies, helping the Spartans reach a team score of 311.

Senior Courtney Taylor posted a first-round score of 81 to place 66th overall, while sophomore Andrea Rangel and freshman Lily Crane each posted 10-over par 82s.

Two-time defending champion Maryland finished tied with UNCW for the win with a 7-over par 295. Old Dominion (301) stands alone in third, six strokes behind the leaders, while Elon (302) is one shot behind the Monarchs in fourth.

Western Carolina tied for 19^th at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Battling rainy and cold conditions on Monday, Western Carolina’s women’s golf team struggled through an opening-round 325 to finish tied for 19th at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate, hosted by East Carolina at the par-72, 6,004-yard Greenville Country Club. Tuesday’s final round has been canceled due to unplayable conditions.

Torrential downpours on Monday forced officials to shorten the first day of the two-day event to just 18 holes while also leaving the course in poor playing condition on Tuesday.

WCU was led by freshman Taylor Allison, who finished the first round with a 6-over par 78. The freshman from Elizabeth City, N.C., countered six bogeys and one double with two birdies, shooting 1-over 37 on the back nine after beginning her round on the par-4 fourth hole on the front.

Allison’s classmate, Mariah Hopkins, is second for the Catamounts, sitting in a tie for 66th overall after shooting 81 on Monday. Hopkins had 10 bogeys, seven pars and a birdie through her opening 18 holes.

Rounding out Western Carolina’s side from the first round were Swedish sophomores Maria Kjelldorff and Sofie Kvarnstrom tied for 79th overall at 83 and senior Michelle Bello one stroke in arrears, tied for 86th with an 84. Kvarnstrom led the team with 10 pars, one more than Allison’s nine. Playing the back nine at 2-over 38, Bello was on pace for an opening-day score below 80 before a disastrous +5 on the par-4 fifth, her next-to-last hole of the round.