CU and DU’s Women’s Golf Seasons End

Strong individual performances give high hopes for next season

ST. GEORGE, UTAH – The 2015 women’s golf season has come to a close for the University of Denver Pioneers (pictured above) and University of Colorado Buffaloes (pictured below). Both teams competed over the weekend at the NCAA St. George Regional.

After three days of battle against talented teams and Entrada at Snow Canyon’s challenging course, the Buffaloes finished 12th while DU, the women’s Summit League Champions, finished 16th. The University of Southern California, top women’s team in the country, cruised to a regional victory, shooting 28-over par—six shots better than second place Stanford.

Picture: via facebook.com

From each of the four NCAA regionals, the top six teams plus the top three individuals from non-qualifying teams, advance to play in the NCAA Championship later this month. The teams and individuals advancing from the St. George regional are as follows:

Teams

1. University of Southern California
2. Stanford University
3. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
4. University of Nevada, Las Vegas
5. University of Virginia
6. University of California, Berkeley

Individuals
1. Alivia Brown, Washington State University
2. Meghan MacLaren, Florida International University
3. Emily Williams, Middle Tennessee State University

Despite not making it to Nationals, there were some impressive individual performances by both CU and DU players that deserve to be noted.

CU sophomore Esther Lee, came up just short of advancing to the Championship as an individual. Lee lost on the third hole in a five-player playoff, ending her first season as a Buffalo in a tie for 13th place. Junior Alexis Keating concluded the meet at 13-over par, posting the Buffs’ second-best individual score and finishing T-26th overall.

How did the ladies feel after the tournament? “A little bummed,” Lee said following the playoff. However, she’s taking it in stride while already looking ahead to next year.  “I think this tournament was a good learning experience. We came out here with high expectations. There was a fair amount of pressure on us to do well, but everyone is making progress and I’m just excited for next year because I know we can do even better.”

Lee’s view on taking experience to create opportunity next year was also echoed by CU’s coach, Anne Kelly, “It was just a tough course, but a good learning experience. I think everyone is going to be pretty determined for next year. Overall, this tournament doesn’t take away anything from what the team accomplished this year, especially this spring. We’ll be back.”

On the Pioneers’ side of things, Mariell Brunn and Elyse Smidinger turned in solid final-day performances – both shooting 3-over. Bruun was DU’s low finisher in the tournament at 14-over par. And, despite her 3-over final round, Smidinger, the 2015 Summit League individual champion, carded a 28-over for the tournament.

Isabel Southard was the second lowest finisher for DU coming in at 16-over par for the three day event.

“Fortunately, we are young and we return all our starters and I look to have some players grow and gain more experience to be leaders on this team next year,” said DU’s head coach Lindsay Kuhle.  “There were moments of greatness out there this week, but overall we need more consistency in giving the perfect effort on every shot. The more we work on consistency and pressure situations the better we will be. This tournament was definitely a learning experience for us and we will build on this experience for the future years.”

We can’t wait to see what the future looks like for these two programs.

A must watch look at our season, the Banquet Video. Go Buffs!

Posted by Colorado Buffaloes Women's Golf on Friday, May 1, 2015

RELATED LINKS

DU Pioneers Get 12th Consecutive Title with Commanding Win

Pioneer Powerhouse: DU Women’s Golf

Former DU Standout Gets First Professional Win

DU Women Seek 11th Straight Conference Title (2014)

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com.

GET COLORADO GOLF NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX