March 19, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Maryland women's golf team travels to Daytona Beach, Fla., March 24-25 for the Hatter Spring Fling. The two-round tournament will take place on the par-72, 6,049-yard Victoria Hills Golf Club. The Terps haven't seen action since finishing fourth at East Carolina's Bradford Creek Women's Intercollegiate March 7-9. "For the first time this year we have momentum going into a tournament," head coach Jason Rodenhaver said. "Hopefully it will carry over."
Stetson hosts the 15-team field, which is dominated by Florida schools. The competing teams are Bethune-Cookman, Brown, Daytona Beach Community College, East Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida International, Florida Southern, Jacksonville, Jackson State, Maryland, Murray State, Montana, Stetson and Winthrop.
The Terps have faced only two of their Spring Fling opponents since the fall. They have met Winthrop three times and East Tennessee State once.
Seniors Erin Clasper (North Potomac, Md.) and Carter Crowther (Kilmarnock, Va.), juniors Marie Harper (West Point, Va.) and Stacey Wolejko (Hatfield, Mass.) and sophomore Kristen Shew (Hockessin, Del.) will compete for the Terps. This is the same lineup that finished fourth in Greenville, N.C., two weeks ago.
Maryland finished fifth at the 2002 Hatter Spring Fling in a field that included 10 of the teams they will face this year, including the winner, Florida Southern. Clasper led the Terps with a 13th-place finish and a two-round score of 153. Harper, Shew, Crowther and then-sophomore Katie Redeker (Pepper Pike, Ohio) also competed in that tournament.
Terps At Bradford Creek
The Terps finished fourth at the Bradford Creek Women's Intercollegiate in Greenville, N.C., two weeks ago. "I'm thrilled with the way we played," Rodenhaver said. "We've played well, and we were finally able to finish."
Maryland's second-round score of 298 marked only the second time in the brief history of the program that the team has broken 300 for a round. The first came at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate this fall.
Clasper and Harper tied for the team lead with a two-round score of 151. They finished in 16th place.
Crowther also cracked the top 25, tying for 22nd place with a 153. Wolejko carded a 158 and tied for 36th, and Shew finished 50th with a 163.
Terps At A Glance
At the midway point in the spring season, Rodenhaver said, "It's been an uphill battle because we've been trying to catch up with the weather, but I'm happy with how we've done so far." A winter storm dumped about two feet of snow on College Park, preventing the Terps from practicing for three weeks before their first spring tournament.
After the Hatter Spring Fling, the Terps have just two more tournaments this season. James Madison University's Lady Duke Invitational is April 12-13, and the ACC Championship in Clemmons, N.C., is April 18-20.
Clasper and Harper are the only two Terps to compete in all 16 rounds since the fall, spanning six tournaments. Crowther has participated in five, and Redeker and Wolejko have played in four each.
Harper leads the team with an average of 78.44 strokes per 18 holes, but Clasper is close behind at 78.75.
Maryland finished in ninth place at the fall opener, the Lady Kat Invitational, in Lexington, Ky. Harper and Redeker tied for 30th to lead the Terps.
The Terps were forced to withdraw from their second fall tournament, the Chrysler ACC/SEC Challenge, in Destin, Fla., due to Tropical Storm Isador. They returned to the course to finish sixth at the Nittany Lion Invitational in State College, Pa., and were led by a 24th-place finish from Clasper.
Maryland finished ninth at the Lady Pirate Fall Intercollegiate in Greenville, N.C. Team captain Clasper claimed the Terps' first top-20 finish of the season, placing 15th with a three-round total of 230.
The Terps ended the fall season on a high note, finishing fourth at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate Nov. 5, the team's highest finish of the season. For the first time in the brief four-year history of the program, Maryland broke 300 for a round with a third-round 298. Crowther fired the Terps' only round of par of the fall, carding a 72 over the final 18 holes. She led the team with her 14th-place finish, the highest a Terrapin placed all season. Harper also landed in the top 20, tying for 15th place, just one stroke behind Crowther.
Maryland finished 17th at the spring-opening Edwin Watts/Carolinas Collegiate Classic in Pinehurst, N.C. Harper paced the Terps, tying for 37th place.
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 he 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.
Follow The Terrapins In 2003
Terps on the Web - For up-to-date tournament stories, statistics, schedules and results, and other Maryland athletic department information, please locate www.umterps.com on the Internet. Check it out today for the most recent women's golf player and coach bios and the 2002-03 season recaps.
E-mail Straight To You - If you would like the latest Maryland women's golf news e-mailed directly to you as soon as it breaks, e-mail women's golf contact Jessica Bernheim at JessicaB@wam.umd.edu with the message "Golf E-mail" as the subject and you will receive every update released about the team.
