MUZZATTI SETS SLU 72-HOLE RECORD, 3 ROUNDS IN 70S AT NCAA

May 16: St. Lawrence University first year golfer Alair Muzzatti set the Saint scoring record for a 72 hole tournament and shot three rounds in the 70s at the 2008 NCAA Division III Golf Championships at Centennial Oaks in Waverly, IA.

The Saint team finished tied for 15th with McMurray College in its second-ever NCAA tournament appearance. The 2003 team finished eighth in a much smaller field. The Saints had a four-round total of 1325 strokes with four out of five scores counting on each of the four days of the tournament. Their previous NCAA total was 1400.

Muzzatti shot her third straight round in the 70s on Friday with a 79, going out in 39 after starting on the tenth tee and shooting 40 on the front nine.  She finished the tournament with a 72-hole score of 313 and finished in a tie for 16th overall. The prior record for a 72-hole tournament, set at the 2003 NCAA Championship was 333 by Courtney Teser. Muzzatti had just three double bogies in 72 holes  and finished the tournament with 40 pars and five birdies. She shot her collegiate low round in the third round of the tournament, carding a 76.

Sophomore Kristin Berretta was the second Saint finisher, shooting 84 on Friday for a four  round total of 328, which is also below the previous record for 72 holes.  Berretta had a tough start to her second nine on Friday after playing the front-nine in four-over 40, but settled down to finish with four straight pars. She finished her tournament with 31 pars and six birdies in 72 holes.

Senior Kim Sikule shot a second straight round of 83 on Friday and was the third Saint scorer. She finished with a 345 total which included four birdies. Sophomore Caitlin Cunningham shot a career low 86 with a 42 on her finishing nine and was the fourth Saint scorer on Friday. Cunningham had a total of 352. First year Casey Lawton shot 88 on Friday and had a 72-hole score of 341.

MUZZATTI CONTINUES OUTSTANDING PLAY AT NCAA TOURNAMENT

May 15: St. Lawrence University first year golfer Alair Muzzatti continued to turn in outstanding rounds of golf under the pressure of NCAA tournament play, shooting her best round as a collegiate player in round three of the 2008 Division III Women’s Championship at Centennial Oaks Golf Course in Waverly, IA on Thursday.

Muzzatti, who matched her collegiate low of 78 in Wednesday’s second round, shot four-over par 76 on Thursday, playing the front nine in one-over 37 and coming  back with a 39 on the back nine. She jumped from 29th in the individual standings to 16th with Thursday's round and a three-round total of 234. Her round was in the top ten for Thursday with just nine players shooting lower scores.

She started slowly on the round, with bogies on the first two holes, but birdied the 457-yard par five third and parred out.  She was two over par through 15, doubled the par four 16th and then parred the final two holes for her third straight solid round in the tournament.

Casey Lawton also shot her best collegiate round in the third round of the tournament, carding an 80 with 40 on each nine.  She had no score worse than bogey and birdied the par three seventh for her best round of the tournament and the year and has a three round total of 253 moving up to 80th in the field.

Sophomore Kristin Berretta shot 43-40 for an 83 on Thursday and is tied for 39th while senior Kim Sikule was the fourth Saint scorer, bouncing back from a 45 on the front nine with a outstanding 38 on the back which included five pars and a birdie, completing her low round in the tournament at 83. Sophomore Caitlin Cunningham also shot her best score thus far at the NCAAs with an 89.

The Saints are 15th in the field, seven strokes behind Middlebury for 14th heading into the final round. Methodist has a 27 stroke lead on Southwestern after three rounds and is looking for its 11th straight title.

MUZZATTI, BERRETTA CLIMB NCAA LEADERBOARD, TEAM 16 TH

May 14: Alair Muzzatti matched her collegiate low with a round of 78 and Kristin Berretta shot a 79 as both surged up the leaderboard at the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championships being held on the par-72 Centennial Oaks Golf Course in Waverly, IA.

St. Lawrence is 16 th as a team in the 20-team field after two rounds of the four-round competition. The Saints will play in the early wave of tee times on Thursday.

Muzzatti moved up to 21 st in the player standings with her 78 and has a two round total of 158. She played the front nine in two-over 38 and had ten pars, one birdie and seven bogies in her second NCAA tournament round.

Berretta shot one-over 37 on her back nine on Wednesday with six pars, two bogies and a birdie on the 341-yard par four 15 th. She had a 42 on the front nine, running into trouble on the ninth hole which she triple bogied for the only real glitch in the round. The Saint sophomore moved up ten spots on the leaderboard and is tied for 32 nd going into Thursday’s round three.

Casey Lawton shot 87 for her second round score and has a two-day total of 173 while Kim Sikule completed the Saint scoring, also shooting 87 in Wednesday’s competition with a 42 on her front nine. Caitlin Cunningham matched her opening score of 92 and has a 184 total after 36 holes. The best four scores among the five-player teams are counted each day.

Methodist continues to lead the tournament and has a 13-stroke lead on second place Southwestern University going into round three.

SAINTS 15 TH AFTER DAY ONE AT NCAA

May 13: Alair Muzzatti shot eight over par 80 and is tied for 30 th in a 111 player field as St. Lawrence University’s women’s golf team is 15 th after the first round of the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championships in Waverly, IA.

Methodist College, 10-time defending champions, leads the 20-team field with a 307 total after the first round while the Saints shot 340.

Muzzatti, starting from the tenth tee, shot rounds of 40 and 40 with 2 birdies and eight pars. She was just two shots off her collegiate low and it was the third time this season that she has shot 80.

Stephanie Mingos of Rhodes College shot the low round on day one of the four-day 72-hole tournament with a one under 71 on the 5866 yard, par-72 Centennial Oaks Course and she was the only player to break par in the first round.

Kristin Berretta was the second scorer for the Saints on Tuesday with an 82 which tied for 42 nd overall. Berretta shot 43 on the back nine, which were her starting holes, and came back with a three-over 39 on the front with two birdies. Casey Lawton shot 86, shooting 41 on the front nine with five pars and Caitlin Cunningham and Kim Sikule tied with rounds of 92 for the final counting score for the Saints. Four out of five rounds are counted in the tournament.

Play will continue through Friday at Centennial Oaks.

SAINTS ARE IN NCAA DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIPS

May 6: St. Lawrence University’s women’s golf team has received one of 20 bids to participate in the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championships and the Saints will play in the 72-hole event May 13-16 in Waverly, IA.

St. Lawrence, ranked 20 th in the latest Division III coaches poll were the 18 th seeded team in the 2008 field, which is led by defending champion Methodist, which has won the last ten straight women’s titles. The tournament is a 72-hole stroke play event with teams counting the best four of five scores each day. The Saints are one of four teams from the Northeast to land tournament bids, joining Williams, Middlebury and Mount Holyoke.

The Saints will be represented by sophomore Kristen Beretta, first year Alair Muzzatti, senior Kim Sikule, first year Casey Lawton and sophomore Caitlyn Cunningham.

Beretta and Muzzatti are the scoring average leaders for the Saints as Beretta has an 84.4 average and Muzzatti a 85.5 through 15 rounds. Berretta has a collegiate low round of 75 and has seven top ten finishes thus far this season. Muzzatti’s collegiate best is a 78 and she was medalist in the Larry Martin Invitational at Cortland among four top ten finishes.

Sikule has a senior season average of 88.7 through 14 rounds with a low round of 80 while Lawton has a 90.6 average with a low round of 86 and Cunningham has a 97.6 average with a low of 90.

The Saints were ranked as high as 12 th nationally during the 2007-08 season and will be making the second NCAA appearance in the nine-year history of the program. SLU made its first NCAA women’s golf tournament appearance in 2003, its fourth year as a varsity program.

Coach Mary Lawrence has built the program from scratch and with just one senior on the roster, is looking forward to more success to come.

“This is a great opportunity for the players and it means a lot to our program,” said Lawrence. “We had a little bit of a tough start to the spring season, but the team has come back strong and played very well in its last couple of outings with everyone shooting their best scores of the spring. Hopefully that will carry over to the NCAA tourney.

“It is going to be a tough test. It is a lot of pressure golf and most Division III collegiate players are not used to playing 72 holes in four days.”

The tournament will be played at the Centennial Oaks Golf Course in Waverly and is hosted by Wartburg College. The teams will play 18 holes per day beginning Tuesday and concluding on Friday.

HEAD COACH
Mary Lawrence

315-229-5789

Assistant Coach
John Pezdek

315-229-5366

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Sports Information Contact for this sport
Wally Johnson