ETSU women’s golf within reach of history at NCAA East Regional

The main goal of the ETSU women’s golf team as it entered this week’s NCAA East Regional was simply to be within reach of a top eight finish heading into the third and final round.

The Buccaneers are precisely in that position.

Despite dropping back to a tie for 12th on the team leaderboard during Friday’s second round of play at the Southwood Golf Club, the No. 43-ranked Bucs will still play in a coveted morning round pairing on Saturday and are just eight strokes back of eighth place Campbell. ETSU must finish in the top eight to advance to the NCAA Championships, which are set to begin May 20 at the Tulsa Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

Individually, the Bucs were led by senior Sian Evans (Gillingham, England), who carded a 2-over-par 74 on Friday to finish the day tied for 33rd on the individual leaderboard. The top ETSU performer remained junior Gabriella Wahl (Heidenheim, Germany), who is now tied for 15th with an overall score of 1-under-par 143 after following Thursday’s opening-round 68 with a 3-over-par 75 on Friday.

“We ended today in 12th place so we earned ourselves an early tee time tomorrow,” said ETSU assistant coach Lauren Stratton, who is on the road with the team as head coach Stefanie Shelton is on maternity leave. “We’re only eight shots back from the eighth position, so we are within striking distance. We will go out early tomorrow and post a good score, and then seen where we fall.”

While the Bucs will enter Saturday’s final round fighting to keep its season alive, No. 12 Vanderbilt will begin the day atop the team leaderboard at 10-under-par 566 for the tournament, six strokes ahead of No. 2 Duke. Individually, Stanford’s Mariah Stackhouse – who entered the event ranked No. 10 in the country – sits at 5-under-par 139 (68-71) and currently holds a one-stroke edge over Duke’s Celine Boutier and Sandy Choi

Other ETSU results included another 3-over-par 75 by senior Lourdes Lopez (Cadiz, Spain), while sophomore Vivienne Chin (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia) carded a 4-over 76 on Friday. Chin is currently posting the team’s third-best performance and is tied for 75th at 7-over 151 for the tournament.

Third and final round play will wrap up on Saturday. Fans can watch live scoring by visiting Golfstat.com and clicking on the East Regional link, and ETSUBucs.com will also provide a complete wrap up following each day’s play. For more on ETSU women’s golf throughout the postseason, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the women’s golf link.