Posie Farrelly had her lowest round of the season with a four-under-par 68, leading No. 32 Florida Gulf Coast University women's golf to the top of the leaderboard at the Diamante Intercollegiate in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas with a team score of 279 in the second round.
As a team, the Eagles had the lowest round of the day by two strokes, passing host Little Rock and No. 57 Boston College en route to the pole position. The back nine of the Diamante Country Club course has treated the Green & Blue the best, with FGCU's five players combined to shoot 14-under-par in Monday's second round.
After an even-par 36 to start her round, Farrelly dropped a shot at No. 10 but followed with an eagle at the par-5 11th hole to jump start her round. Farrelly followed with a birdie at the short par-3 12th, then made birdies at No. 14 and No. 18 to card a 32 for the back side and a 68 for the full 18.
Lousiane Gauthier sits in a tie for second on the individual leaderboard, just one stroke off the lead. Gauthier went out in a one-over-par 37, but came in with four birdies to shoot a 69 (-3) for the round to sit at eight-under-par for the tournament.
Leonie Wulfers is in a tie for fifth after improving on Sunday's 71 with a 70. The native of Germany holed a birdie putt at the last to pull into a four-way tie. Wulfers is looking for her third-straight finish inside the top-six to start the season.
Freshman
Islay Benoit made birdies at No. 11 and No. 13 to card an even-par round of 72. Benoit improved by three strokes from Sunday and had FGCU's fourth countable score.
Rounding out the FGCU lineup was
Amelie Alcantara, who made three birdies and six pars on the back nine to finish with a 74 for the second day in a row.
Boston College trails FGCU by three strokes, with Cynthia Zhang holding a one-stroke lead over Gauthier for the individual title. Oral Roberts is in third, five strokes behind FGCU. Host Little Rock now sits in fourth after a two-over-par round as a team. FGCU, BC, ORU and LR are the only four teams under par for the event.
The final round will tee of at 8:30 a.m. CDT tomorrow. After being part of the final groups on the course for the second round, FGCU will head out first in Tuesday's final round alongside BC and ORU.
