GREENVILLE, N.C. - The FGCU women's golf team is perched in sixth place after day one of the Ironwood Invitational.

The Eagles opened its regular-season finale with a 304 team score and followed with a round-two 297 for a late surge up the team leaderboard. Only three shots separate teams in sixth through 10th place.

James Madison leads the 11-team field at 6-under-par 570. Coastal Carolina's Sara Sarrion, James Madison's Kendall Turner, and East Carolina's Oda Sofie Kilsti are in a three-way tie atop the individual leaderboard at 4-under par.

"It was a tough day, but the team hung in there for the 36 holes," said FGCU women's golf head coach Shannon Sykora.

Freshman Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross, England/The Chalfonts Community College) paced the FGCU starting five Monday by shooting 75 and 74 (+5) to tie for 21st entering Tuesday's final round.

Both sophomore Posie Farrelly (Lutz, Fla./George Steinbrenner HS) and freshman Leonie Wulfers' (Muenster, Germany/Gymnasium Hochrad) day-one performances place them in a tie for 25th at 6-over. Farrelly trimmed four strokes from her opening round with a team-low 73 to climb up 11 positions, and leads all Eagles in made pars with 25.

Sophomore Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn./Collierville HS/FAU) also shaved four shots with a second-round 76 to tie for 44th.

Freshman Lousiane Gauthier (Canelones, Uruguay/Colegio Stella Maris) withdrew from the tournament in round two due to illness.

FGCU is scheduled to tee off Tuesday's final round from the Tar Heel state beginning at 9:15 a.m. on hole No. 10.

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. 15 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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