Sports > February 14, 2008

By Hailey Robbins | Staff writer

The No. 14 ranked Demon Deacon women’s golf team finished the first round of the Northrop Grumman Regional in Palos Verdes, Ca., nestled in seventh place.

The team finished the regional tournament in sixth place overall.

Their combined score of 301 leaves them just 17 over par for the first round. Not a single team finished the first day of the season opener, Feb. 10, under par.

UCLA, the No. 2 ranked team in the tournament, began the third day of the tournament with a 10 stroke lead on both No. 4 ranked Southern California and No. 6 ranked Florida, both tied for second place with scores of 298. UCLA finished the first round with a score of 288, four under par.

“This is one of the toughest courses we have played so far, the greens were as fast as pro tour greens are, making it exceedingly difficult,” freshman Allie Bodemann said.

“However, it is also one of the most beautiful courses we have played — mountains in one direction, the city of Los Angeles and the ocean the opposite direction. It is truly spectacular.”

Bodemann finished the first round at seven over par, with a 78, tied with senior Laura Crawford.

Freshman Natalie Sheary lead the Lady Deacs in low scores in the first round, finishing one over par with a score of 72.

Sheary and Crawford remain tied coming out of the fall season with the lowest scoring average of the season, shooting 73.8 per 18 holes.

Stuck in 13th place after the front nine, junior Jean Chua and Sheary elevated the Deacs to seventh with phenomenal games.

Chua birdied the 10th, 16th and 18th holes to finish five over par.

Sheary birdied both the 12th and 13th holes, then the 15th and 17th holes, tying her for seventh place, two strokes away from the individual leader. Senior Jordan Craig birdied two of the back nine holes, finishing four over par.

Going into Feb. 12, the Lady Deacs were just one stroke away from overtaking the sixth place team, No. 24 Stanford and two strokes away from joining the four-way time for second place between Southern California, Pepperdine, Brigham Young and Florida.

“As a team, we played decently and certainly hung in there, but some of us definitely feel like we could have done much better,” Bodemann said.

“We have one of the best teams in the country and I think we are eager to prove ourselves. We ended our fall season with a huge win and are hoping to get a couple more wins before the year is over (starting in California).”

Led by Sheary again Feb. 12, the Demon Deacons crept into sixth place and Sheary rested a mere two strokes behind the overall individual leader, Pepperdine’s Taylore Karle.

Although strong winds gave the Lady Deacs some trouble, they finished the day with 603 for the first two rounds.

At the conclusion of the three-day event, the Demon Deacons were sixth behind UCLA, Florida, Southern California, Arizona State and Stanford with a score of 904.

The No. 35 ranked Sheary settled individually in first place at the tournament, shooting a 215 overall and winning by one stroke.

Bodemann finished in the top 35 individually, with Crawford, Chua and senior Jordan Craig finishing in the top 60 overall.

The Deacons look to rise in national rankings after the conclusion of the tournament.

Currently they stand above the No. 4, No. 7 and No. 9 ranked teams in the nation.

The Lady Deacs will travel to the Lady Gator Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida GC the weekend of Feb. 22-24.