PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. - Behind the second-lowest team round Tuesday, the FGCU women's golf team moved into a tie for fourth at the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate.

FGCU entered moving day in a five-way tie for eighth, and dropped a second-round 290 to surge up the leaderboard. The Eagles are now tied with University of Illinois-Chicago at 592 through the first two rounds of the tournament.

FGCU has finished no lower than second in its last three events. The final round of the Golfweek/AGT Intercollegiate is slated for Wednesday.

"We had a solid day and look forward to trying to move up the leaderboard again tomorrow," said FGCU women's golf head coach Shannon Sykora.

No. 77 James Madison continues to lead the 17-team field, now at 3-over 571 as a team. On the individual leaderboard, James Madison's Kate Owens and UIC's Dasa Urbankova are tied for first at 2-under.

Sophomore Posie Farrelly (Lutz, Fla./George Steinbrenner HS) is not far behind at 3-over, climbing eight spots Tuesday to T11th. Farrelly lies just five strokes back of the leaders after rounds of 73 and 72. She also remains one of just four golfers in the 87-golfer field to dial in an eagle.

Freshman Leonie Wulfers (Muenster, Germany/Gymnasium Hochrad) cut four shots off her opening-day round with a 72 to move into a tie for 17th, improving 23 positions.

Freshman Lousiane Gauthier (Canelones, Uruguay/Colegio Stella Maris) and sophomore Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn./Collierville HS/FAU) also improved their scorecards Tuesday, eliminating four and six shots respectively to mark a total of three Eagles to card rounds of 72.

Bridge recorded the highest jump on the individual leaderboard by flying up 32 spots into a tie for 32nd alongside teammate Gauthier, who climbed up 22 positions.

To round out the FGCU starting five, freshman Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross, England/The Chalfonts Community College) is tied for 30th entering Wednesday's action.

As a team, FGCU is third in made pars (110) and fifth in birdies (21). FGCU continues to excel on the par-5 holes, tying tournament leader James Madison for first in combined scoring at 6-under.

For complete coverage of the women's golf program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_WGOLF, on Facebook at FGCU Women's Golf, and online at www.FGCUathletics.com. Eagles fans can also sign-up to have news on FGCU women's golf or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.

FGCU STARTING FIVE:


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
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 96 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 48 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. Nine FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20 in 2021-22 and No. 22 in 2022-23), baseball (No. 16 in 2023), beach volleyball (No. 20 in 2022), and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as five 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 3.67 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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