The Sonoma State Women’s Golf team traveled to Alameda, Calif., to compete on Feb. 27- Mar. 1 in the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout hosted by Cal State East Bay. The Seawolves began the first day with a combined 15-over-par 303 to tie for 5th position. 

It was a less than ideal start for the Seawolves, but they quickly rallied back. Leading the charge was senior Lexi Nielsen, one of the best golfers in the CCAA and two-time CCAA player of the week. 

“I had two polar opposite days,” said Nielsen, “The first day was mediocre, but the second day was special. Everything felt right; I birdied my second hole and was happy to see a putt roll in early. On the fourth hole, I made an eagle and holed out from 120 yards. We were able to build on this momentum and rode it to the end of the tournament.” 

Nielsen set a fast pace after playing her opening 12 holes four under with just one bogey, three birdies, and an eagle on the par-4 10th, following an uncharacteristic five-over-par-77 performance in her first round that included three birdies but eight bogeys. She would compose herself and focus on birdieing her final three holes of the round after making her only two bogeys on the day on 12 and 14. Her six birdies and an eagle would allow her to finish with a tournament-low six-under-par 66, not only propelling herself into the top three of the tournament individually, but also allowing her to break her school record for a low individual round of five-under-par 67, which she had last spring in the teams very own SSU Invitational. 

Senior Samantha Cabunag also helped keep SSU in the hunt with an even-par first round along with Nielsen. Cabunag had a team-high five birdies in her opening round but could not keep an under-par round as she also had five bogeys. Cabunag birdied 12, 17, and 18 in her second round to finish under-par on the back nine and one-over-par for the day.

On the last day, the Seawolves’ youthful potential shined through as freshman Lauren Garcia, and sophomore Brenna Ozel teamed to shoot three-over-par 75 and help SSU record a team score of two-under-par 286 for the tournament. Garcia and Ozel would make multiple birdies on the back nine, finishing even par. Four of the team’s five players shot four-under on the back nine, as the Seawolves capitalized on their momentum and favorable conditions.

“It was a team effort,” said Nielsen. “I’m proud of each and every member of this team, especially when the spotlight was on them. It felt good to see the girls walking out on the last day with smiles on their faces ready to do the best we can do regardless of the outcome. It was a super fun experience to have, and I feel blessed to share it with such a solid group of girls.” 

Head Coach Val Verhunce felt the same way. According to the SSU Women Golf recap, Coach Verhunce said, “It was a great day for us. The weirdest part is that I was not even aware of how quickly we were climbing the leaderboard. I saw some of our girls miss some short putts early in the round, and I did not think we were off to a great start. I was made aware of the eagle from Lexi but I do not like to pay attention to the leaderboard during a round. I just like to read our players’ body language and assist them whenever I can. It was a great team performance and climbing five spots really shows the depth of our team” 

The Sonoma State Women’s Golf team hopes to keep this momentum going into Cal State San Marcos Fujikura Invitational on Mar. 6-8 at Shadowridge Golf Club in Vista, California.