AUGUSTA, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's golf team completed a massive upset on the second day of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament play on Saturday afternoon. The second day of the tournament consisted of medal match play where the Cardinals defeated the number one seed, Wayne State University, after winning their team medal match play 3-1-1. The upset comes from Friday's stroke play championships where the Warriors led SVSU by 44 strokes.
The Cardinals got off to a great start, leading four of the five matchups through the first four holes of competition. Emily O'Brien was the first into the clubhouse for the team and clawed her way back into her match after being down two strokes through her first three holes. O'Brien finished her round three up, beating her Warriors counterpart 74 to 77. Megan Thiravong was second off the course for the Cardinals and faced off against the individual stroke play champion, Maisarah Herzi. Despite the challenge, Thiravong never trailed in her match. She won five up, 74 to 79. Megan Kozlowski found herself down three with four holes to play in her round but was able to battle back into the match headed into the final hole where she needed a par to tie after a bogey from Wayne State. Kozlowski found herself on in regulation and two-putted to tie her match and withhold a point from the opposing scoreboard. Rachael Krieger won her match in dominating fashion, never trailing after going up two on her first hole, coasting to her up nine victory, 77 to 86. Brook Herbstreit competed against the pre-determined top seed for the Warriors and fell 77 to 71 giving Wayne State their only point of the afternoon. The team shot an even 300 strokes today for one of their lowest marks of the season.
When asked about the clutch performance down the stretch which ultimately determined the victory for the Cardinals, Megan Kozlowski attributed her performance to her coaching, "Out there you just have to focus one shot at a time. That's what coach always tells us. You can't focus on what anyone else is doing, you just have to focus on yourself."
Head coach Matt Pumford was ecstatic about the team's play today, "We went into the matchup focused on par five scoring. In the stroke play, they beat us by 33 shots on par fives alone. I spent my time with the girls on the par five's today and we played them much better." When asked about the upset, Pumford talked about the preparation for the match play today, "We talk about being emotionally neutral and staying in the present. Trying not to look back, and just give 100% focus on the shot that we have in front of us. It is always a goal of ours to be mentally strong when we play."
UP NEXT
The team will face off against the two-seeded Ferris State University Bulldogs after their victory against nationally ranked Grand Valley State University this afternoon. The format for tomorrow's championship round will be the same as today's, medal match play. The two squads will battle it out for the GLIAC Team Championship which will grant automatic qualification to the NCAA East Regional at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois. Pairings for tomorrow's final matchup can be found here