Opinion by Roy J. Akers – www.skyviewsports.net (East Lansing, Michigan)
After three days of grueling golf at Michigan State University (MSU), five teams rose from the smoke, or in this case, windy conditions at the Forest Akers golf course in East Lansing. Southern California traveled cross country to play in the regional and with Bailey Shoemaker pacing the team, the Women’s Trojan team predictably came out number one. Oklahoma charged very late to push the host Spartans to number three. The B1G’s Northwestern squad and Pepperdine will move on to the finals being held at Carlsbad, California from May 17th-22nd. Here are the keys to the five teams moving on.
Southern California– is nothing else, both outstanding and consistent. Starting off with a seven under par and a course record 7 under 65 by Shoemaker. USC had multiple players bring it during the 54 hole, three day tournament. Golfstat.com showed Trojan golfers Catherine Park and Shoemaker under par on the par threes. Shoemaker was six under on the par fours, along with Brianna Navarrosa. Three Trojan players finished under par on the tricky par fives at MSU.
Oklahoma State– had a late charge to finish second at MSU. They shot the low one day totals at the tournament with a team effort of nine under par on day three. Consistency was the key for OKST. Maddison Hinson-Tolchard paced the par threes playing at even par. Hinson-Touchard was five under on the par fours and Marta Silchenko was one under. Silchenko was three under on the par fives.
MSU Spartans– The Spartans started off their home regional in sixth place after day one and climbed to fifth after two and improved to second place before settling in third place. MSU shot their lowest total ever in a NCAA Regional and a team groomed by coach STACY SLOBODNIK-STOLL to build a culture of winning and do it the right way came together. MSU was paced by Leila Raines who put together a very consistent 73-68-69- 212 six under par. Raines cleaned up on the par fives and went -9. No other golfer in the tournament was within four strokes of her on the longer tournament holes.. All Big-Ten golfer Katie Lu was very consistent finishing with a 72-73-71 even par round. Her interview is below.
Northwestern-The Women’s Wildcats are a team that is fun to watch and that comes from the coaches Emily Fletcher and Beth Miller. Northwestern is a fairly consistent team and most of the golfers were very consistent and avoided the “big round”. No Wildcats player posted a score above 78. Lauryn Nguyen Jr. posted scores of 70-71-70 for five under par. Nguyen played the par fours to four under par and two under on the par fives. Her teammate Jieni Li (Sr.) went one under on the par threes. In all Weng, Yun, Cai all joined the party and were all on the leader board for top players for the par threes, fours, and fives. That team concept is why Northwestern is moving on. Here is their team interview after moving on below
