March 26, 2010
CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. -
First & Second Round Stats 
Despite wet conditions on the par 72 6,032-yard Plantation Inn golf course, the Illinois women's golf team came prepared to play and are in first place overall after two rounds at the 18-team University of Cincinnati Spring Invitational, held in Crystal River, Fla. Illinois (592) shot a first round 299 and a second round 293, to be 16-over par heading into Saturday's final round. Illinois is six strokes of second place Stetson, and nine stokes in front of third place Montana.
"This is the first time this season that we've posted back-to-back sub-300 rounds," head coach Renee Slone said. "It's nice that the second round was an improvement from the first round. Everybody has taken something from the Pinehurst tournament that they've learned and applied it to this tournament. It's great to see that they are able to utilize that knowledge in a matter of a couple of days."
Individually, Illinois has three players in the top 10, with sophomore Hailey Koschmann (143) in second place after shooting 72-71 and is one-under par for the tournament. Koschmann had her first career hole-in-one on the third hole of the second round.
"Hailey, in the morning round got off to a bit of a slow start, but then had a very strong back nine," Slone said. "In the afternoon round she started off birdie, par, hole-in-one, birdie. That was very exciting."
Joining Koschmann in the top ten are fellow sophomores Kaitlyn Wampler (147), who scored rounds of 74-73 and is tied for third, and Samantha Sloan (148), who is in a tie for fifth after two rounds of 74. Wampler is three-over par for the tournament, while Sloan is four-over par.
"Kaitlyn was very, very steady today," Slone said. "She hit 29 greens in regulation and gave herself a lot of opportunities for birdie. She made it very easy for herself today. Sammi played pretty simple, nothing too fancy about it, just went about her business and got the job done."
Sophomore Nora Lucas (155) checked in tied for 23rd after rounds of 80-75, and is 11-over par, while junior Raquel Hopton (157) rounds out the Illini with rounds of 79-78 and is 13-over par for the tournament.
"We put ourselves in the position that we want to be in and played two solid rounds," Slone said. "Tomorrow we just want to go out with the same focus, same attitude that we had today and stay focused on the process and playing the golf course. Just go about our business."
The third and final round of the UC Spring Invitational begins with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. on Saturday. For a full recap of the final round check Fightingillini.com.
