ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca College women's golf team begins competition Tuesday at the 2014 NCAA Division III Golf Championships at the El Campeon Golf Course at the Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. The course will play to a par-72 at approximately 5,900 yards.
Fans can follow the action throughout the week via
Live Scoring from Golfstat.com.
It is Ithaca's first appearance as a team in the national championship tournament. The Bombers were selected as an at-large berth to the field of 21 teams. Additionally, six individual golfers were invited to take part in the event, which will take place over four rounds from May 13-16. Team and individual championships will be contested simultaneously.
Ithaca carries a team scoring average of 317.6 into the tournament, over 18 tournament rounds this season. The Ithaca lineup will consist of
Sharon Li,
Kelsey Baker,
Amanda Failla,
Kimberley Wong and
Lisa Calcasola. The lowest four scores of the five-person lineup count toward the team score each round. Ithaca is seeded fifth in the 2014 championship based on its scoring average.
All five players in the Ithaca lineup comprised the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team after sweeping the top-five individual positions at the conference tournament in the fall.
Li is the Empire 8 Player of the Year and a returning all-American. She carries national championship experience into the event this week, as she competed as an individual in the 2013 championship tournament. She finished tied for 10th place among the field of 111 golfers. She earned First Team All-American honors as a sophomore by the Women's Golf Coaches Association. In the 2013-14 season, Li has won five individual tournament titles and finished in a first-place tie at another tournament before falling in a sudden-death playoff. Her season scoring average is 75.22, with a career-best and school-record low round of 68 in Ithaca's regular-season finale at the Northeast Elite Invitational.
Baker is a three-year varsity starter and carries an 80.89 scoring average this season into the tournament. She has placed among the top-10 individuals in six of Ithaca's nine tournaments. He season-best round of 76 came in the opening tournament of the year at St. Lawrence, where she placed tied for fourth individually. She was third at the Empire 8 tournament and fifth at the Pat Clouse Invitational at Springfield, Ohio.
Failla is the lone senior in the Ithaca lineup and has been a four-year starter for the Bombers. Her 2013-14 scoring average is 81.81. She posted season-best rounds of 77 at the Jack Leaman Championship hosted by Amherst in the spring, and at the Empire 8 Championships. Failla's season scoring average is the best of her four-year career and she has five top-10 finishes this year.
Two freshmen round out the Ithaca lineup.
Kimberley Wong was the Empire 8 Freshman of the Year after placing fourth at the conference championship tournament. She also earned top-10 finishes at Mount Holyoke, Cortland, Williams and Wittenberg. Her season scoring average of 81.39 ranks third on the team. She posted rounds of 77 at St. Lawrence and at Williams, and broke 80 in seven of her 18 rounds this season.
Lisa Calcasola has a season-scoring average of 82.94 and her season-best round of 79 came in Ithaca's last tournament round of the year, the second round of the Northeast Elite Invitational. She was fifth at the Empire 8 Championships and tied for 10th at the Pat Clouse Invitational.
Live Scoring from Golfstat.com 2013-14 Ithaca College Golf Statistics NCAA Division III Women's Golf Website
