March 6, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Coming off a 17th-place finish at the Edwin Watts/Carolinas Collegiate Classic last weekend, the Maryland women's golf team travels to Greenville, N.C. for the third annual Bradford Creek Women's Intercollegiate March 7-9. The tournament will take place on the par-72, 6,093-yard Bradford Creek Golf Course.
East Carolina hosts the 15-team field, which includes Augusta State, Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, East Tennessee State, Elon, Maryland, Methodist College, Longwood, North Carolina-Greensboro, North Carolina-Wilmington, Radford, Richmond, St. John's and Western Carolina. In addition, players from Newberry College will compete in the individual competition.
The Terps will face a familiar field this weekend, having faced 13 of the 15 competing teams at least once since the fall. Eight of the teams competed at last weekend's Edwin Watts/Carolinas Collegiate Classic, and 10 participated in the last tournament hosted by East Carolina, the Lady Pirate Fall Intercollegiate Oct. 14-15. The Terps have faced nine of the teams at least twice, including Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina and East Carolina, whom they have seen three times each.
For the third straight tournament dating back to the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate in the fall, head coach Jason Rodenhaver will use a lineup of seniors Erin Clasper (North Potomac, Md.) and Carter Crowther (Kilmarnock, Va.) and juniors Marie Harper (West Point, Va.), Katie Redeker (Pepper Pike, Ohio) and Stacey Wolejko (Hatfield, Mass.). Sophomore Kristen Shew (Hockessin, Del.) will compete as an individual.
Terps In Pinehurst
The Terps finished 17th at last weekend's Edwin Watts/Carolinas Collegiate Classic. "We did fine considering the weather we had to deal with," Rodenhaver said, alluding to the winter storm that dumped about two feet of snow on College Park, preventing the team from practicing for three weeks before the tournament.
Harper paced the Terps in Pinehurst, tying for 37th place with a three-day total of 242.
Clasper tied for 61st with a score of 250. Redeker trailed her by only four strokes with a 254, tying for 74th, followed by Wolejko in a tie for 82nd with 256 and Crowther, who tied for 90th with a 260.
Terps At A Glance
Clasper and Harper are the only Terps to compete in all 14 rounds since the fall, spanning five tournaments. Redeker and Crowther have each participated in four tournaments.
Harper leads the team with 78.86 strokes per 18 holes, but Clasper is within a stroke at 79.07.
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 ACC/SEC Challenge, in Destin, Fla., due to Tropical Storm Isidor. 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 individual top-20 finish of the season, placing 15th.
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.
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.
