Following junior Lauryn Nguyen’s individual win and a second-place team finish at the Windy City Collegiate Classic, No. 29 Northwestern remained in-state for the Illini Women’s Invitational earlier this week.
The Wildcats overcame a sluggish start to place third in a tough 15-team field that featured six of the nation’s top 30 teams. NU tallied a 14-under 850 (291-277-282) — 13 strokes behind winner No. 13 LSU and four behind runner-up No. 8 Ole Miss.
Experiencing their first taste of fall weather, the ‘Cats maintained their composure after a first round that yielded mixed results.
“(The weather) was a little bit of an adjustment for us from the week before when we hosted, we had almost record warmth,” coach Emily Fletcher said. “We just made some unforced errors, made some mistakes early on the first 12 holes, and we really responded and got our footing.”
NU got off to a 3-over 288 start, good enough for sixth place. But stellar play from all five ‘Cats on the lineup propelled the squad into second place, and they finished the round with 14 fewer strokes than the 18 holes prior.
Sophomore Dianna Lee led the charge for NU, logging a 1-under 71 and 2-under 70 over the first two rounds. Lee, who placed T-39th and T-34th in the team’s first two fall tournaments, entered the final round tied for eighth individually.
“One thing about Dianna is she’s a competitor,” Fletcher said. “We believe that Dianna will contribute significantly each and every week. But I would say this, this is not a surprise to us to see her outstanding play.”
The final round saw every ‘Cat hit at or below par, with both Lee and Nguyen carding 2-under 70. However, this was not enough to fend off a rallying Ole Miss squad as NU fell to third place by the tournament’s conclusion.
Each of the five ‘Cats in the lineup finished within the top 30 with Lee finishing tied for sixth at 5-under.
Nguyen logged her second-straight top 10 performance, tying for ninth with a 4-under 212. With a tournament win already under her belt this season, Nguyen has cemented herself as one of the top players in the nation.
“When (Nguyen) gets hot and gets on a roll, she’s as good as anybody in college golf,” Fletcher said. “We saw that in her performance last week at our Windy City Collegiate Classic, winning that (where) the strength of field is tough as you will see all year long.”
NU also enjoyed contributions from senior Jennifer Cai and freshman Ashley Yun, both of whom tied for 19th at 1-under.
The ‘Cats will head to the west coast for the Stanford Intercollegiate next week to round out their fall tournament schedule. With every tournament result counting toward the team’s chances at the NCAA tournament, Fletcher stressed the importance of fall competitions –– even though the postseason may seem far in the distance.
“As much as we want to be as good as we can right now, we also realize that we can’t give in to our weaknesses; we’ve got to continue to improve,” Fletcher said. “But in this case, I would tell you this group is plenty good enough, talented enough for us to compete at a really high level.”
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