PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The FGCU women's golf team holds steady in second place after Monday's second round at the Lady Bison Bay Point Classic.
At 607, FGCU trails tournament host and event leader Lipscomb (599) by eight strokes entering Tuesday's final round. The Green & Blue comfortably sit 12 strokes ahead of third-place North Alabama. The final round of the three-day tournament is set for Tuesday.
"It was a tough day, but we hung in there," said FGCU women's golf coach Shannon Sykora. "With a good round (Tuesday), we should have a chance at the end."
Three Eagles have soared inside the top 15 on the individual leaderboard, and freshman Leonie Wulfers (Muenster, Germany/Gymnasium Hochrad) paces the FGCU starters by tying for eighth. Wulfers is 7-over par through the two rounds, opening with a team-best 72 on Sunday.
Freshman Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross, England/The Chalfonts Community College) and freshman Lousiane Gauthier (Canelones, Uruguay/Colegio Stella Maris) are tied for 11th, just one stroke behind Wulfers. Gauthier is the only Eagle to improve her first-round scorecard, slashing four strokes with a round-two 74 to climb 11 spots up the leaderboard.
Sophomore Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn./Collierville HS/FAU) is tied for 13th at 9-over par for the event. Lipscomb's Sierra Stout and Dayton's Sarah Frazier share the tournament lead at 1-over par.
The Eagles' combined par-3 scoring paces the 15-team field. As a team, FGCU is second in made pars with 108, and is tied for second along with North Alabama in made birdies at 21. The Green & Blue is just one of three programs to sink 20 or more birdies.
FGCU STARTING FIVE:
T8 Leonie Wulfers 72-79 | 151 | +7
T11 Lousiane Gauthier 78-74 | 152 | +8
T11 Grace Rigby-Walden 73-79 | 152 | +8
T13 Anna Claire Bridge 73-80 | 153 | +9
T44 Posie Farrelly 77-86 | 163 | +19
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
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.
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!
#FEEDFGCU
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an 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 and No. 25 in 2022-23) 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 & 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 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.
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