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Illinois opens the season with seven sophomores, one junior and one freshman
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Sept. 18, 2009
Champaign, Ill. - The Illinois women's golf team travels to Denver, Colo., to compete in the Ron Moore Women's Collegiate, hosted by the University of Denver on Sept. 21-23. The Illini tee off Monday morning at 8 a.m. and have a practice round on Sunday. The 54-hole tournament consists of three days playing 18 holes each on the par-72, 6,605-yard Highlands Ranch Course.
This is the first time the Orange and Blue will compete in this tournament and it will be a drastic change of scenery for the team.
"The one difference for our players will be the altitude change, so the practice rounds will be a key component to determine how much it effects how far the ball flies," head coach Renee Slone said.
The Illini have seen a lot of success in practices this week and plan to enter the tournament with an optimistic outlook.
"Yesterday was a very enthusiastic and uplifting practice so hopefully that carries through today and tomorrow and we just want to maintain and build upon those confidence levels as they go into the tournament," Slone said.
Junior Raquel Hopton and sophomore Samantha Sloan were recently named co-captains of the team and will be competing in the tournament along with sophomores Hailey Koschmann, Nora Lucas and Kaitlyn Wampler.
"We've got a strong five traveling to this particular tournament. The majority of them posted at least one under par-round during qualifying, so obviously everyone is playing well and can step up at any point and time."
The 13-team field consists of Arkansas-Little Rock, Baylor, Columbia, No. 5 Denver, Iowa State, Montana State, Nebraska, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Texas, UC-Davis and Wyoming.
"This is nice to play against some different competition and obviously go to a different part of the country that many of the girls have never been to before," said Slone. "We're looking forward to getting the season started on a great note."
For coverage of the Illinois women's golf team at the Ron Moore Collegiate, visit fightingillini.com for a full recap at the end of each day's action. Fans can also follow live scoring by visiting golfstat.com.
