Feb. 25, 2006

SEDONA, Ariz. -

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The Santa Clara University women's golf team shot a team score of 326 in the first round of play of the Red Rock Invitational Saturday afternoon. The team currently stands in ninth place while tournament host Northern Arizona, UTEP and Portland State occupy the top-three spots heading into Sunday's final round.

The Broncos find themselves 19 strokes off of Northern Arizona's pace, but are only six strokes behind fifth-place Grand Canyon University. Corey Utsurogi led all SCU golfers with a round of 79 Saturday, followed by Jenny Nelson's 81 and Candice Palmer's 82. Samantha Trask carded an 84 and Megan Stoddart rounded out the Bronco quintet with an 86. Jennifer Sun, competing as an individual, shot an 82 for the day.

Utsurogi sits in a tie for 14th place in the individual competition after Saturday's round, only five strokes back of the co-leaders, Sophia Choi of Northern Arizona and Haley Brown of Portland State.

"We're disappointed at this point that we didn't take advantage of the opportunity to do well in this field," said head coach Polly Schulze. "Our goal tomorrow will be to play our way into a top-five finish. We're going to bear down tomorrow and see if we can move up in the standings and get a good finish."

Northern Arizona paces the field with a team score of 309, while UTEP sits a stroke back and Portland State stands three back in third.

The golfers will tee off tomorrow morning in a shotgun start as Santa Clara looks to play their way into the top five.