Women's Golf Finishes Third At CAA Championship
04/16/2006 | Women's Golf
April 16, 2006
PINEHURST, N.C. - Two University of Richmond seniors, who have been around for all four years of the Spider women's golf program, helped lead the team to a third-place finish at the 2006 Colonial Athletic Association Women's Golf Championship.Senior Lauren Ritter finished seventh and fellow senior Lesley Monachino took 14th as the Spiders climbed from fifth place to third in the final round at Pinehurst No. 6. The Spiders were in fifth place after both the first and second rounds, but shot their best round of the tournament, a 28-over-par 312 on Sunday.
"We usually struggled in our last round in tournaments, so it was great to come back the way we did," Ritter said. "We knew we had to go out and just put a good round together and we could make up ground. That's what we did."
Richmond trailed James Madison by one stroke and William & Mary by five strokes entering the final round. The Spiders carded a 312 on Sunday, compared to a 320 by James Madison and a 330 by William & Mary, to climb to third place. James Madison finished fourth at 967 and Xavier took fifth at 971. William & Mary dropped to sixth place at 973.
The Spiders trailed William & Mary by 14 strokes after the first round, but would finish 13 strokes ahead of the Tribe.
"I felt we definitely had a good chance to finish third if we just played like ourselves, like we know we can play," Richmond head coach Leighann Rastede said. "To overcome the deficit we faced after the first round is very impressive, but the team never stopped believing."
Georgia State won the tournament with a 929 and UNC-Wilmington finished second at 951, nine strokes ahead of Richmond (960).
"Georgia State is an extraordinary program and UNC-Wilmington is tough," Rastede said. "It's kind of like a David and Goliath thing, we're only in our fourth year as a program, but we still tried to be competitive with them. We knew it would be difficult to win the tournament and coming in second would be a challenge, but we felt it was a very feasible goal to finish in the top-three. That was the goal and we did it."
Ritter shot a 5-over-par 76, the Spiders' best round of the tournament to finish seventh with a 23-over 236. Ritter carded an 81 in the opening round and a 79 in the second round.
Monachino shot an 80 Sunday to finish the tournament in 14th place at 27-over 240. She was 4-over with two holes to play, before finishing with a triple-bogey and double-bogey, but that hardly took away from the thrill of Richmond's comeback.
"To come back the way we did and finish third, it feels like we won," Monachino said. "Everyone played great for us today, all five players were tremendous."
Monachino shot an 82 in the first round and a 7-over 78 in the second round, which was the Spiders' best round Saturday.
"I'm glad I was able to help my team," Monachino said. "In year's past I had might have one good round at the CAA Championship, but this year I was able to put three together that really helped the team."
Junior Ashley Lambert carded a 6-over-par 77 on Sunday, Richmond's second-best round of the tournament, to finish 17th with a 242. Lambert, who was a second-team All-CAA selection, shot an 86 in the opening round, but rebounded to shoot 79 in the second round and then shot 6-over in the final round.
Freshman Rosario Germino finished 18th at 244. She shot an 81 Sunday, following an 80 in the second round and an opening round 83. Sophomore Alex Latimer shot an impressive 79 in the final round Sunday to move into a tie for 23rd at 255.
Richmond will wait to hear if it earns a berth in the 2006 NCAA Regionals, but if not the Spider seniors will have ended their careers on a high note.
"To pull of this comeback and finish the CAA Championship like this means a lot as a senior," Monachino said. "Having been here from the start of the program, this is a great feeling."