Spartans Return to Florida for the Seminole Invitational
3/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's golf team travels to Florida for the second time this spring to participate in the Seminole Invitational hosted by Seminole State at the Timacuan Golf Club in Lake Mary, Fla., March 10-11.
The Seminole Invitational takes place over spring break and will have 15 teams vying for the team championship. In addition to Upstate and host Seminole State, the tournament field consists of Appalachian State, Creighton, Dalton State, Detroit, Florida Atlantic, Gardner-Webb, High Point, IPFW, John A. Logan, Niagara, Radford, Ursuline and Wofford. The tournament is a mix of NCAA Division I and II programs, along with teams in the NAIA and JUCO ranks. The 36-hole tournament will be a shotgun start both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Upstate head coach Todd Lawton will send the lineup of Rachel Reiling, Eden Howard, Sidney Dermody, Payton Culler and Malika Allie into action this week. Kinsey Soniat will also play in the tournament as an individual. The Spartans average 321.1 per round, an average 0.9 strokes better than the 2012-13 squad that set a school record with a 322.0 stroke average. Howard has played in two tournaments and six rounds this spring and leads the team with a 79.3 stroke average. Reiling, Dermody and Culler have played in every tournament so far this season, while Allie will play for the first time since the Terrier Intercollegiate in late-October.
Upstate just completed play in the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic Tuesday. Reiling was the top Spartan in the tournament and finished in the top half of the field.
- With the addition of Eden Howard to the lineup, Upstate now has three players who average under 80 for the season. Howard tops the team through two tournaments and six rounds with a 79.3 stroke average. Sidney Dermody is second at 79.6, while Rachel Reiling is third at 79.7.
- All eight Spartans on the team have played at least six tournament rounds this season.
- Eden Howard has shot rounds in the 70's four times in six rounds.
- Sidney Dermody is the first Spartan in the history of the program to shoot in the 70's in the first five rounds of her career. She ran her streak to seven straight rounds in the 70's before carding an 81 in the final round of the JU Classic on Oct. 14.
- Rachel Reiling tops the team with nine rounds in the 70's this year.
- Rachel Reiling currently ranks fifth all-time at Upstate with an 81.06 career stroke average.
- Payton Culler and Rachel Reiling are tied for the team's season low round, each firing a 73 this season. Culler's 73 came in the first round of the Great Smokies Intercollegiate and Reiling's came in the second round of the JU Classic.
- Eden Howard and Rachel Reiling own winning percentages above. 500 for the season with Howard leading the way at .548 and Reiling coming in at .542. Rachel Reiling was named the A-Sun Golfer of the Week on Oct. 22 after claiming a sixth-place finish at the Terrier Intercollegiate. It was her first career weekly honor and the second all-time for an Upstate women's golfer.
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