Feb. 18, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Last year’s spring season produced the first NCAA tournament berth for the Notre Dame women’s golf program and the team is hoping for similar success this time around as they travel to Florida to open the spring slate of the 2004-05 season. The Fighting Irish are among a very strong field of 15 at the Central District Classic, which is hosted by Michigan State and played at the River Wilderness Golf and Country Club in Parrish, Florida. The Irish registered two victories during the fall campaign and hope to build off of that success as they aim for a return trip to the national tournament.
CENTRAL DISTRICT CLASSIC: Competition gets underway with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, February 21. The first day will feature 36 holes of play while the final 18 holes begin with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday. The field will include five teams ranked in the top-25 of the latest golfstat.com rankings. Ohio State tops the field at No. 9, while Missouri (13th) and LSU (14th) join the Buckeyes in the top-15. Arkansas at 20 and Michigan at 23 are also among the best teams in the nation. Notre Dame, who owns an overall record of 12-9-1 versus the field so far this season, is not far behind in 31st.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: The Irish will send out junior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep), sophomore Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates), sophomore Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands), freshman Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula), and junior co-captain Suzie Hayes (Dublin, Ireland/Loreto College). Brophy, Nakazaki and Lee were part of the traveling team at every event throughout the fall season. Brophy, who led the squad with a 75.12 stroke average in the fall, captured the Jeannine McHaney Invitational/Central Regional Preview on Sept. 26. The victory was the third of her Irish career, which is a school record. Nakazaki’s top finish came at the Notre Dame Invitational as she placed in a tie for seventh, while Brown tied for eighth at the Shoot-Out at the Legends to collect her best placement of the fall. Lee tied for 14th at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate and Hayes placed in a tie at 14th during the Shoot-Out at the Legends.
IN THE FALL: Notre Dame captured back-to-back wins at the Jeannine McHaney Invitational/Central Regional Preview and the Shoot-Out at the Legends to go along with two other top-five finishes at the Notre Dame Invitational (3rd) and the Lady Razorback Invitational (5th). The win at the McHaney tournament in Lubbock, Texas marked the biggest win in program history as the Irish topped 17 other squads from the central region. Notre Dame also placed sixth at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate and in a tie for eighth at the Lady Northern Invitational.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Head coach Debby King on the Central District Classic …
“We’ll be facing the toughest field since the Lady Northern Invitational back in the fall. A top-five finish is realistic. A lot of the teams are from the north so there should be no excuses about not being able to play outside yet this winter.” “Having played many of these schools so far this year it gives us confidence having beaten some of them already and it also gives us a challenge going against teams that have beaten us. It also creates a rivalry with some of those teams.”
King on the team at this point of the season …
“Everyone was very committed to winter practice. It’s been the best winter attitudes since I’ve been here. I attribute that to maturity and training the minds to work differently.” “Being able to break the perception of being a northern school is a challenge. Everyone else can think that we may not play well because we haven’t been able to play outside yet, but we won’t think that way.”
Junior co-captain Suzie Hayes’ thoughts on the season so far and what lies ahead …
“During the off-season we spent a lot of time focusing on the mental and visualization part of the game. Even though we couldn’t get outside, we still visualized ourselves playing out on grass so we’ll be ready to play come spring.” “The team is very positive and ready to go after having a good season in the fall. We are looking forward to starting the spring season and the (Central District Classic) is our first hurdle and we will be ready for it. Then we get to go down to St. Croix for spring break and practice for four days and that will be nice and give us more time to prepare.”
RESULTS: Live stats and results will be available on the Michigan State athletics web site at msuspartans.com.
NEXT UP FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame will have nearly two weeks off before hitting the course again at the St. Croix Collegiate Classic in the U.S. Virgin Islands on March 11-13. Continue to follow the Irish throughout the 2004-05 season by logging onto und.com or by calling the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
2005 Central District Classic Field
(Irish record versus opponent in 2004-05):
Arkansas (1-1), Baylor (1-0), Indiana (2-0), Kansas State (2-0), LSU (0-0), Michigan (2-2), Michigan State (0-1), Missouri (1-2), Northwestern (0-0-1), Notre Dame, Ohio State (0-1), SMU (1-1), Texas A&M (0-1), TCU (1-0), Texas Tech (1-0).
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