Fighting Irish To Tee It Up At The JMU/Bonnie Hoover Invitational

April 7, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – This weekend marks the last tune-up opportunity for the Notre Dame women’s golf team before the BIG EAST tournament. The Irish will travel to Harrisonburg, Va. to take part in the James Madison University/Bonnie Hoover Invitational at the par 72, 6,046-yard Lakeview Golf Course. The two-day event is the fourth tournament of the spring for the Irish and will mark the last time they will tee it up before traveling to Dade City, Fla. for the BIG EAST Tournament, April 23-25.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: The 13-team field will take to the Lakeview Golf Course for 36-holes of play on Saturday, beginning with tee times off of holes No. 1 and 10 at 8:00 a.m. Sunday’s third and final round of play will also begin with 8:00 a.m. tee times off of those same holes. The Notre Dame quintet will tee it up between 8:40 a.m. and 9:12 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday’s pairings will be determined on the standings following the first day of play. The tournament will count the low four of five scores towards the team total.

Princeton won the 2005 JMU Dukes Invitational with a 900 (306-300-294) total for the 54-holes of play. Avery Kiser from Princeton and Garrett Phillips from Augusta State captured co-medalist honors as they each shot a 217.

FIELD: The Irish have faced six of the 13 teams already this season, compiling a 6-1 mark against those squads. Penn State enters as the highest-ranked team according to the latest golfstat.com rankings. The Nittany Lions, who are the only team in the field to better the Irish this season, come in ranked 42nd. Notre Dame is ranked 59th and will have a preview of two BIG EAST teams as Georgetown (No. 88) and Rutgers (178) will be teeing it up alongside the Irish. Notre Dame is 2-0 against the Hoyas this season and 1-0 against the Scarlet Knights.

Princeton, the defending champion of the event, comes in ranked 77th. The Irish topped the Tigers earlier this season. Notre Dame has also defeated Elon (111) and Xavier (127), two other teams that will be participating in this weekend’s tournament.

Completing the field is Columbia (113), William & Mary (143), Appalachian State (165), Long Island University (194), Longwood University and Methodist College. Longwood is in the process of becoming a Division I school, while Methodist is the top ranked team in Division III.

NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Junior Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) will lead the Irish from the No. 1 position in the lineup, while Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) looks to continue her solid senior campaign from the No. 2 spot. Nakazaki has a team-best 75.65 scoring-average and Gebauer has a 77.85 mark on the season.

Teeing it up at No. 3 will be senior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep), who is second on the squad with a 77.35 scoring average. She and Nakazaki have played all 26 rounds as members of the scoring team this season, with Nakazaki leading the Irish with 25 counted rounds. Brophy has had 23 of her rounds count towards the team’s total.

Senior co-captain Suzie Hayes (Dublin, Ireland/Loreto College) and freshman Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Parkside Collegiate Institute) will play from the fourth and fifth positions, respectively, for the Irish. Hayes carries an 81.17 average into this weekend’s play, while Maunu has a 79.81 average. Maunu has been a valuable addition to the Fighting Irish roster as she has played in all nine tournaments during her rookie season.

LAST TIME OUT: The Fighting Irish captured a fourth-place finish at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 21-22. As a team, Notre Dame posted a three-round total of 906 (299-304-303), which was the team’s lowest score during the spring season. The first round tally of 299 marked the first time that the Irish had shot below 300 this spring.

Noriko Nakazaki led the way for the Irish as she placed seventh overall with a 54-hole total of 221 (74-71-76). That marked her fifth top-10 finish of the season. Joining Nakazaki in the top-10 was Lauren Gebauer, who finished tied for ninth with a 223 (74-75-74) total.

Lisa Maunu carded a three-round score of 229 (75-78-76) to finish in a tie for 22nd. Seniors Suzie Hayes and Katie Brophy posted scores of 236 (76-80-80) and 238 (79-82-77), respectively. Sophomore Alejandra Diaz-Calderon and freshman Courtney Sullivan played as individual entrants for the Irish. Diaz-Calderon registered a 239 (79-79-81), while Sullivan shot a 251 (81-81-89).

IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Debby King discusses the JMU/Bonnie Hoover Invitational and her team …

On where the team stands now as the BIG EAST tournament is approaching …

“This tournament will be good because we’ll be able to see Georgetown and Rutgers before the BIG EAST tournament. We haven’t been able to see South Florida or Louisville yet this year. From what I’ve heard those two teams will be tough to beat, especially since South Florida will be on its home course.”

On the expectations of the team heading into this tournament …

“I’d like to come back with a win. It would be nice to beat the two BIG EAST opponents. The highest ranked team is Penn State so obviously it would be good to beat them as well.”

On the Lakeview Golf Course …

“We’ve never seen the course and we won’t be able to get a practice round in so I’ve printed off some tips from the Internet that I’ll give to the team. We’ll have to do a lot more visualization for this tournament but it does look like just a regular course.”

RESULTS: Live results will be available at golfstat.com.

NEXT UP: Notre Dame will travel to Dade City, Fla. for the BIG EAST Conference tournament at the Lake Jovita Golf Club. The three-day event gets underway on Sunday, April 23.

Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame women’s golf team by logging on to und.com or by calling the Notre Dame Athletics Hotline at (574) 631-3000.

–ND–