DAYTON BEACH, Fla. – Fairfield University Women's Golf moved up two spots on the leaderboard in today's final round to finish seventh at the Lonnie Barton Invitational at LPGA International in Daytona Beach. The Stags improved their team score by eight strokes in the second round, led by the duo of
Madison Banas and
Alexa Brown.
Banas and Brown each carded a 157 for the tournament – Banas posted an 80-77 in her two rounds and Brown turned in an equally as consistent 79-78. Both golfers were three strokes shy of cracking the individual top 10 in the 84-golfer field.
Taylor Rogers was also among the top half of the field with a 163 (82-81) to claim a share of 30th place.
Rounding out the six Stags to hit the course were
Arianna Palmeri,
Riley Sullivan and
Heddia Djusberg.
Fairfield's seventh-place finish landed them in the top half of the 14-team tournament. The Stags topped opponents including St. Francis (Pa.) and LIU Brooklyn from the Northeast Conference and fellow Jesuit institution Holy Cross.
Bethune-Cookman pulled away to claim the team title by 13 shots (296) over second-place Fairleigh Dickinson. Individual medalist honors went to Yudika Rodriguez of Bethune-Cookman, who fired a 140 (-4) to top FDU's Nicola Smith by three strokes.
The Stags will be back in competition in one month at the Hartford Spring Match on April 5. Fairfield meets in-state foes Hartford and Sacred Heart at the event at Blackledge Country Club in Hebron.
