Wednesday, May 25, 2005

            The 2004-05 season was once again a standard-setting campaign for the East Tennessee State women's golf program. Under the direction of third-year head coach Stefanie Reynolds, the team captured a pair of tournament championships, while also garnering several Southern Conference individual honors.

            While the team enjoyed six Top 5 finishes in nine events during the season, the highlights of the year were victories in the JSU Lady Gamecock Classic during the fall, and the team's second-straight victory in the Coca-Cola Terrier Intercollegiate during the spring. In all, the Lady Bucs have won three tournaments in the last two seasons. In addition, the team set a new program record for two-round score with a 596 at the Taco Bell Intercollegiate, while also matching the school mark for best three-round score with a 902 at that same tournament. For her efforts, Reynolds received SoCon Coach of the Year honors - the first ETSU women's golf coach to ever earn that award.

            Individually, junior Ashley Barton (Seffner, Fla.) continued to build a reputation as one of the best female golfers to ever play at ETSU. Her season stroke average of 76.08 set a new record for juniors, while her 71 at the UNCW Lady Seahawk Invitational matched the school record for single-round score. As a cap to her season, Barton ended the year as a first-team All-SoCon selection, while also picking up SoCon Golfer of the Week honors once during the campaign.

            A major reason for the Lady Bucs' success in 2004-05 was the freshman trio of Maria Ringdahl (Oland, Sweden), Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) and Cindy Phillips (Johnson City, Tenn.). Both Ringdahl and Giraldo competed in all nine of the team's tournaments, with Ringdahl finishing second on the team with a 76.87 stroke average, while Giraldo finished third at 78.39. In fact, on way to being named to the All-SoCon first team, Ringdahl set or matched ETSU records for freshman scoring average (76.87), best second round score (71), best third round score (74), best two-round score (144) and best three-round score (218).

            Senior Danielle O'Reilly (Whistler, British Columbia) also competed in all nine of the team's events and finished the year fifth on the squad with an 81.39 stroke average. Juniors Kailey Brooks (Bracebridge, Ontario) and Laura Diaz (Aguadilla) also provided to the Lady Bucs' efforts during the season.