Women's golf travels to Omaha to defend MVC Title
04/11/2008 | 12:00:00 | Women's Golf
April 11, 2008
By Ryan Shaw
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois women's golf team will travel to Omaha, Neb. to defend their 2007 Missouri Valley Conference title this weekend.
The Salukis were picked to finish third at the 2008 Championship in a poll of the league's coaches.
"We just got the poll and we're picked to finish third, which doesn't surprise me because, on scoring average, that's where we are," said Daugherty. "It is a little misleading because the 336 we shot in San Francisco really inflated our scoring average even though that was a great score out there in 50 mile and hour winds. It doesn't matter to me and it doesn't bother me.
"I told the team, `if we're not picked higher than third, use it as motivation.' We believe in ourselves and that's the biggest thing. We've been there, done that. We won it last year, we handled the pressure and I think we're just ready to go. I think they're excited to get there and tee it up."
Illinois State was chosen by the coaches to win the title this season, receiving six first-place votes and 94 points in the poll. Missouri State followed in second with a total of 86 points and two first-place votes.
The Salukis were a very close third with 84 points and two first-place votes. Rounding out the voting were Bradley (4th, 73 points), Northern Iowa (5th, 52 points), Evansville (6th, 50 points), Indiana State (7th, 42 points), Drake (8th, 35 points), Wichita State (9th, 21 points) and Creighton (10th, 13 points)
SIU will travel Kelly Gerlach, Christine Zoerlein, Lauren May, Braidy Hood, Danielle Kaufman and Kate Laegeler to the play-six, count-four tournament.
Gerlach is currently ranked fourth on the MVC leaderboard with a season scoring average of 77.08 through nine tournaments.
Zoerlein holds the No. 10 spot on the board with a 78.33 scoring average on the season.
May and Hood are tied for 16th on the board with scoring averages of 79.04 through nine tournaments.
Kaufman has posted an 80.4 scoring average in the three tournaments she has participated in this season. Laegeler holds the 35th spot with an average of 81.17.
SIU enters the tournament riding high off of a win at their home tournament, the Saluki Invitational, and a tie for second at the University of Illinois' Illini Spring Classic.
"All year long our goal is to peak for the conference tournament," said Daugherty. "Obviously, we had kind of a break through tournament at our own Saluki Invitational with the career lows and school records. Then we went to the U of I last week and backed it right up and played just as well.
"We're just trying to stay healthy and stay focused and keep up with our school work and then when we get to Omaha, we're ready to tee it up."
The Salukis will begin defending their 2007 title on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at the Oak Hills Country Club in Omaha, Neb.