Sept. 24, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Coming off a ninth-place finish at the Lady Kat Invitational, the Maryland women's golf team heads to Destin, Fla., for the Chrysler ACC/SEC Challenge. The tournament will take place Sept. 27-29 on the 5,937-yard, par-71 Raven Course at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. "This is by far the hardest field we are going to play in," said fourth-year head coach Jason Rodenhaver. "These are the two top conferences in the country."
The 13-team field consists of five squads ranked in the top 25, including the top three teams in the country. In addition, first-ranked Duke is the defending ACC and NCAA champion. The teams competing (with national rankings in parentheses):
ACC:(1) Duke, Florida State, Maryland, North
Carolina, NC State, (18) Wake Forest
SEC:(2) Auburn, Alabama, (3) Florida,
(6) Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State
Furman
Last year the Terps competed in the Challenge for the first time and finished in 11th place. "The girls have something to prove this year," Rodenhaver said. Then-junior Carter Crowther (Kilmarnock, Va.) tied for 26th place to lead the team in 2001.
Freshman Alex Casi (East Palestine, Ohio), sophomore Kristen Shew (Hockessin, Del.), juniors Katie Redeker (Pepper Pike, Ohio) and Marie Harper (West Point, Va.) and senior Erin Clasper (North Potomac, Md.) will compete in the tournament for the Terps.
Terps in Lexington
The Terps opened the season Sept. 13-15 in Lexington, Ky. at the Lady Kat Invitational, hosted by the University of Kentucky. Maryland finished in ninth place out of 16 teams at the rain-shortened tournament. "We were a little rusty, but we played OK," Rodenhaver said. "We did a lot of good things, but we can definitely get better."
Harper and Redeker tied for 30th place to lead the Terps. They shot a two-day total of 158.
Casi shot a 10-over-par 82, leaving her tied for 36th place but just two strokes behind her teammates.
Clasper was the only Terp to improve on her first day's score, as she shot an 81. She finished tied for 50th with a two-day total of 163.
Junior Kara Gropler (Franklin Lakes, N.J.), who will not compete this weekend, was just one stroke behind Clasper and tied for 54th place. Shew will replace Gropeler in the lineup.
Terps at a Glance
This is the first full four-year senior class for the Terps, who began play just four years ago. Jennifer Gibson (Havertown, Pa.) and Holly Thornton (Delran, N.J.) join Clasper, the team captain, and Crowther.
The Terps are looking to improve upon what Rodenhaver called a "disappointing" 2001-02 season. While the team's average did not decline, it also did not improve. "We just couldn't get it all together at once," Rodenhaver said.
About Coach Rodenhaver
In his fourth season as head coach, Jason Rodenhaver is the only coach the Maryland women's golf team has ever known, and built the program from scratch.
Rodenhaver played three years for Maryland after transferring from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he played one season. As team captain in 1994, his senior year, Rodenhaver led the Terps to a fifth place finish at the ACC Tournament, and played in the 1994 NCAA Tournament.
In his eighth year of coaching, Rodenhaver was named head coach of the women's team on November 19, 1998 after serving as the assistant coach of the men's team for four-and-a-half seasons.
Rodenhaver says his most memorable moment as a coach was leading the women's team to victory at the James Madison Lady Dukes Invitational in Spring 2001. It was the first team victory in Maryland women's golf history.
