Monday, September 12
Charleston, S.C.
All Day
Georgia Southern University
at
The Fall Invitational
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
Yeji Shin tied for sixth at the Sun Belt Championship.
Photo by: Norman Wolf - Beachside Photography
Depth Will Help Women’s Golf Take the Next Step in Year Two
9/11/2016 7:49:00 AM | Women's Golf
Eagles open the season at The Fall Invitational Monday.
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Georgia Southern women's golf program will look to take the next step in its second year of existence, and that step could be a big one, considering how far the Eagles came in year one.
Georgia Southern finished the year strong, taking fourth at the Sun Belt Championship with three freshmen and two juniors in the lineup. Not too shabby for a first-year program that had just six student-athletes on the roster.
All five in the lineup for the Sun Belt Championship – seniors Iben Hvass and Taylor Thompson, and sophomores Ansley Bowman, Ariana Macioce and Yeji Shin – are back with a year of seasoning under their belt. They have helped four newcomers – senior transfer Lauren Coe and freshmen Julianna Collett, Rachel Hardy and Ella Ofstedahl – get acclimated to the program and Georgia Southern this fall.
"Practically half the team is new again with four new players so it's been really fun to watch the returners step up and be leaders in helping the new girls and providing them a welcoming environment," said head coach Emily Kuhfeld.
The newcomers have already helped raise the competition level in creating a tournament-like atmosphere when the Eagles play qualifying rounds to determine the five-person lineup each week. Getting tested on a daily basis is already making the Eagles better, and Kuhfeld believes that the Georgia Southern University Course provides similar tests to the tournament courses they will play. Bowman, Coe, Hvass, Macioce and Shin earned the nod for the opener, and Collett will play as an individual.
"A couple of them mentioned they were pretty nervous teeing off in qualifying, which is good," said Kuhfeld. "They know they have to play pretty well to go so that's been great in terms of letting everybody know where we all are and what we're going to be working on during the season. We have isolated exactly what it is that will help us early on."
Course management and short game are the areas in which the Eagles need improvement, and that really showed as the Eagles pushed each other in qualifying.
"Our football team or our basketball team don't just go out without a play or not knowing what they are going to try to do so for us, it's having a map of each hole and knowing your strategy for each one and how to beat the golf course," said Kuhfeld. "They are really starting to understand how important formulating that plan and sticking to it is. We will continue to work on that with them, and that's what is going to bring our scores down."
The Eagles play four tournaments in the fall, starting with The Fall Invitational Monday in Charleston, S.C., and just as last season, they do not have much time in between tournaments to practice in between events. It is one of the growing pains of being a new program and having to earn your invitation to tournaments that are the right fit for the schedule you are trying to create. Despite that limitation, Kuhfeld said the fall schedule is a great test for a program ready to take the next step.
"I think it's going to be a good mix of competition and a good mix of courses," she said. "We have great opportunities for us to show what we can do and play against some good teams."
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events can be purchased by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets.
Georgia Southern finished the year strong, taking fourth at the Sun Belt Championship with three freshmen and two juniors in the lineup. Not too shabby for a first-year program that had just six student-athletes on the roster.
All five in the lineup for the Sun Belt Championship – seniors Iben Hvass and Taylor Thompson, and sophomores Ansley Bowman, Ariana Macioce and Yeji Shin – are back with a year of seasoning under their belt. They have helped four newcomers – senior transfer Lauren Coe and freshmen Julianna Collett, Rachel Hardy and Ella Ofstedahl – get acclimated to the program and Georgia Southern this fall.
"Practically half the team is new again with four new players so it's been really fun to watch the returners step up and be leaders in helping the new girls and providing them a welcoming environment," said head coach Emily Kuhfeld.
The newcomers have already helped raise the competition level in creating a tournament-like atmosphere when the Eagles play qualifying rounds to determine the five-person lineup each week. Getting tested on a daily basis is already making the Eagles better, and Kuhfeld believes that the Georgia Southern University Course provides similar tests to the tournament courses they will play. Bowman, Coe, Hvass, Macioce and Shin earned the nod for the opener, and Collett will play as an individual.
"A couple of them mentioned they were pretty nervous teeing off in qualifying, which is good," said Kuhfeld. "They know they have to play pretty well to go so that's been great in terms of letting everybody know where we all are and what we're going to be working on during the season. We have isolated exactly what it is that will help us early on."
Course management and short game are the areas in which the Eagles need improvement, and that really showed as the Eagles pushed each other in qualifying.
"Our football team or our basketball team don't just go out without a play or not knowing what they are going to try to do so for us, it's having a map of each hole and knowing your strategy for each one and how to beat the golf course," said Kuhfeld. "They are really starting to understand how important formulating that plan and sticking to it is. We will continue to work on that with them, and that's what is going to bring our scores down."
The Eagles play four tournaments in the fall, starting with The Fall Invitational Monday in Charleston, S.C., and just as last season, they do not have much time in between tournaments to practice in between events. It is one of the growing pains of being a new program and having to earn your invitation to tournaments that are the right fit for the schedule you are trying to create. Despite that limitation, Kuhfeld said the fall schedule is a great test for a program ready to take the next step.
"I think it's going to be a good mix of competition and a good mix of courses," she said. "We have great opportunities for us to show what we can do and play against some good teams."
Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Tickets to Georgia Southern athletics events can be purchased by visiting GSEagles.com/tickets.
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