April 8, 2006
STANFORD, Calif. - The sun was shining and Bucky the Bronco even made a surprise appearance Saturday afternoon at the Stanford Golf Course as the Santa Clara University women's golf team finished the first round of the Peg Barnard California Collegiate tied for 11th place in the 14-team field with San Francisco.
The teams will return to the course tomorrow morning for an 8 a.m. shotgun start.
With Bucky cheering the SCU women on and loosening the mood, Megan Stoddart paced the Broncos with a round of 77, followed closely by Jenny Nelson's 78 and Hilaire Fouts' 79. Candice Palmer finished the day with a score of 80 while Samantha Trask shot an 85 in the first round.
The Broncos, with a team score of 314, remain within striking distance of a top-five spot, as only 12 strokes separate them and fifth-place Stanford. The USC Women of Troy leads the tournament after Day One with a score of 298 followed by a trio of teams tied for second at 299 in San Jose State, Ohio State and California.
"We're close enough to a lot of top-50 teams so that if our standing remains or gets higher our ranking will move up," said head coach Polly Schulze. "The girls relaxed, enjoyed the day, and they weren't grinding it so much today and were just relaxed. I'm very proud of their performance today and hopefully we can post another good number tomorrow to end our regular season on a positive note."
Washington State's Anastasia Kostina leads the individual competition after shooting an opening-round 69, leading USC's Irene Cho by a stroke and Ohio State's Dana Je by two.
