Tigers Win Pat Clouse Invitational With Day 2 Rally

Rachel Steiner earned medalist honors at Pat Clouse Invitational to lead Wittenberg to its second team title of the fall 2012 season.

Rachel Steiner earned medalist honors at the Pat Clouse Invitational. File Photo | Erin Pence

October 14, 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – For the second time during a breakout 2012 fall season, the Wittenberg women's golf team scored a team victory. The wins bookend the campaign, starting with the Denison Fall Invitational Sept. 8-9 and ending with Wittenberg's Pat Clouse Invitational Oct. 13-14, and provide tremendous momentum for the spring season.

Ranked 18^th in the nation, the Tigers capped the fall season not only with a team victory, but with a stirring Day 2 rally to top one of the highest ranked teams in the nation, the DePauw Tigers, champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) last year. Wittenberg did it on their home course, as the covered the historic links at Springfield Country Club in 636 strokes over two rounds.

The key to the win was consistency as the Tigers carded rounds of 316 and 320 in completely different conditions. On Saturday, Wittenberg trailed DePauw by five strokes after a round played in nearly idyllic fall conditions. On Sunday, the host Tigers beat the visiting Tigers by a whopping 18 strokes following a round played in high winds and intermittent rain.

DePauw wound up second in the 15-team field with a 649, followed by Ithaca at 653, Baldwin-Wallace at 662 and SUNY Cortland at 663.

The Tigers held the team trophy aloft at the end of the weekend, and sophomore Rachel Steiner (Hamilton, Ohio/Lakota West) also was in possession of the individual medalist hardware. She shot rounds of 77 and 78 for a 155, two strokes clear of SUNY Cortland's Rebecca Studin.

Sophomore Nicole Waers (Canton, Ohio/Perry) was next for the Tigers, finishing eighth with a 160 after back-to-back 80s. Junior Deanna Michalishyn (Mason, Ohio/Mason) placed 11^th with a two-day total of 161, followed by freshman Maggie Smith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) in 17^th with a 165 and freshman Allie Lawwill (Springboro, Ohio/Middletown) in 24^th with a 167.

Playing as individuals in the 91-player field, sophomore Carolyn Wong (Naperville, Ill./Central) placed 41^st with a 175, sophomore Savannah Fox (Massillon, Ohio/Perry) finished 52^nd with a 179 and senior Miranda Pettit (Crawfordsville, Ind./North Montgomery) rounded things out in 56^th with a 181.