Monday, April 15, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Concordia women's golf team ended the regular season in fine fashion last week, emerging at the top of a Sonoma State Spring Invitational field that featured 15 teams and 80 players.

The Cavaliers took home the team title, finishing with a two-day total of 36-over par. That mark was two strokes clear of second-place Academy of Art and Sonoma State.

The victory also earned CU the selection as GNAC Team of the Week. The win marked the team's third tournament title of the year after winning the Yellowjacket and SMU Invitationals in the fall. 

Head coach Lindsay Aho's team was led by senior Shantel Antonio, who carded a two-round total of 148 (4-over par). Antonio earned medalist honors after finishing in a tie for first amongst competing individuals at Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club.

The performance, headlined by an even-par 72 in round one, also earned Antonio the title of GNAC Women's Golfer of the Week.

"I am very proud of the women's team," said Aho. "It's a great honor to be named the GNAC Team of the Week and to be recognized for all the hard work the women have been doing."

Solid starts to the event for all of the Cavaliers had the team tied for third place heading into the final day. They would soon take advantage of that prime position, using Tuesday's lowest team score in the field to vault into first place by the end of the tournament.

"We have been working on finishing strong and they did that in Sonoma," Aho said. "As a team, we played the last four holes at even-par and that set us apart from the rest of the field." 

In addition to Antonio, the Cavaliers placed two other players inside the top-10 as Keizer, Ore. native Cammie Decker (fourth place) and freshman Kaley Saludares (tie for 10th place) turned in two-day totals of five and 10-over par, respectively.

Decker leads the team and ranks second in the conference in scoring, totaling an average of 76.9 through 20 rounds of play. CU is also slotted second in the GNAC in team scoring average at 313. 

Concordia will look to defend its conference title next week when it returns to the GNAC Championships. The event, which includes all six GNAC teams, is being contested Apr. 22-23 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.