MACON, Ga. – FGCU women's golf finished sixth at the Mercer Invitational Tuesday to officially close out the fall season.
"The team battled all day and all week," head coach Shannon Sykora said. "I'm really proud of this group. They've put in a lot of hard work this semester."
The Eagles left the Peach State with a three-round score of 901. FGCU resumed round two on Tuesday as Monday's action was suspended due to darkness, shooting its best round of the week (294). In the third and final round that followed, FGCU shot a 301 to mark the fifth-best round of the day.
Mercer captured the team title on its home course behind a 870 team score (+5), The Bears scorched the 15-team field by finishing 18 shots ahead of second-place Georgia State. Mercer also won the individual title as Mikayla Dubnik finished as the lone under-par golfer at 2-under.
Posie Farrelly led all Eagles en route to a career-best finish on the player leaderboard. The Lutz, Florida native shot a 74 in all three rounds to place tied for 13th at 6-over.
Farrelly made her biggest moves on the par-5 holes, entering the clubhouse a combined 4-under on such holes. She sank the fourth-most birdies among the 90 student-athlete field with 10.
Lousiane Gauthier (Uruguay) finished the second round with a 69 (-3) which tied for the lowest individual round by any player at the tournament. She followed that performance with a 74 (+2) in the third round to finish the event with a three-round score of 226 (+10) to tie for 23rd.
Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn.) and Leonie Wulfers (Germany) both carded all three three rounds in the 70s to wrap up their individual fall performances.
FGCU will return to the links in the spring on February 5-7 at the Lady Bison Classic from Panama City, Florida.
EAGLE STARTING FIVE
T13 Posie Farrelly 74-74-74 | +6 | 222
T46 Lousiane Gauthier 83-69-74 | +10 | 226
T36 Anna Claire Bridge 77-77-75 | +13 | 229
T42 Leonie Wulfers 78-74-78 | +14 | 230
T75 Grace Rigby-Walden 77-81-83 | +25 | 241
*Individual
T85 Gabriella Vetter 85-80-84 | +33 | 249
TEAM LEADERBOARD
1 #107 Mercer +6 | 288-289-293 | 870
2 #102 Georgia State +24 | 300-300-288 | 888
3 #148 FIU +30 | 299-296-299 | 894
4 Seminole State +32 | 299-293- 304 | 896
5 #139 UTEP +34 | 303-302-293 | 898
6 #149 FGCU +37 | 306-294-301 | 901
7 #162 Troy +42 | 306-292-308 | 306-296-308 | 906
8 #146 Eastern Kentucky +47 | 311-296-304 | 911
9 Daytona State College +48 | 306-304-302 | 912
T10 #143 Morehead State +49 | 309-300-304 | 913
T10 #161 Jacksonville +49 | 300-300-313 | 913
12 #177 Samford +57 | 303-303-315 | 921
13 #193 Stetson +66 | 310-307-313 | 930
14 #172 Wofford +68 | 316-305-311 | 932
15 #214 Lamar +88 | 318-322-312 | 952
For complete coverage of the women's golf program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_WGOLF, on Facebook at /fgcuwgolf and online at www.FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCUwomen's golf or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
COACH SYKORA
After a highly successful decade leading Barry University, Shannon Sykora was named the FGCU women's golf head coach on June 16, 2022. During his career with Barry, the Buccaneers won the 2017 NCAA Division II National Title, while finishing runner-up in 2014 and placing third in 2013 and 2022. Sykora led Barry to 28 tournament wins in his decade as head coach including four Division I tournament victories. He has produced five WGCA All-America First Team selections, nine WGCA Scholar All-Americans, one honorable mention All-American, the 2013 NCAA Division II Individual National Champion, and the only D-II player to compete in the inaugural Augusta Women's Amateur.
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 45 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn at at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
