Northwestern heads back to North Carolina looking to reverse its earlier bad luck in the Tar Heel state.
The Wildcats will travel to Greensboro to play in the Bryan National Collegiate, hosted by Wake Forest and UNC Greensboro from April 6 to April 8. The last time NU played in the state, it finished 16th out of 18 teams in the Landfall Tradition on Oct. 30.
The Cats will see some stiff competition in No. 6 North Carolina and No. 9 Duke, but they will also battle with some familiar faces from the Big Ten.
“Beating Ohio State and Michigan State would really get us ready for the next weeks,” junior Lauren Weaver said.
With the Big Ten Championships only two weeks away, a good performance at this tournament would help build some momentum.
“We’re trying to be the best playing team in the country, so we’ve been practicing a lot this week,” Weaver said.
Weaver returns to the green after a runner-up finish at the Mountain View Collegiate on March 24. The team as a whole took seventh place while shooting 22 strokes over par, 28 shots behind the winner, Texas Tech.
“There’s a lot of pressure for this tournament to play better than last week,” Weaver said.
In practice this past week, the team focused on its weaknesses from the past tournament, most notably its short game. Weaver said the team was not focused around the greens, which caused them to drop valuable shots.
Eight out of the 17 teams participating this weekend are ranked in the top 30, so the Bryan National Collegiate will be a good barometer for how far the team has come. Freshman Hana Lee said she feels the team cannot focus on any single competitor but must prepare for the competition as a whole.
“All of us who are traveling this weekend have the potential to do really well,” Lee said.
Weaver and Lee will be joined on the green by senior Alex Lederhausen, freshman Brittney Mai and sophomore Devon Brown.
In last year’s competition, the Cats placed 13th out of 17 equally challenging teams. NU was led by Weaver in 38th place and Lederhausen in 46th place. “We just have to go out there and play our game, and the right results will come,” Lee said.
