MSU women’s golf coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll has often talked to her No. 10 women’s golf team about harnessing potential.
Two weeks ago, the Spartans showed a glimpse of their potential, shooting a school-record score of 280 at the Lady Northern Invitational.
This weekend, they proved that score was more than just a good day.
The Spartans fired rounds of 285, 283 and 292 to finish with a school-record 54-hole score of 860 (4-under) to win the Tar Heel Invitational by 12 strokes at North Carolina’s Finley Golf Course.
“Other than our two Big Ten Championships, this is the biggest tournament win in the history of our program,” Slobodnik-Stoll said.
“We’ve never won a tournament of this caliber. Beating these teams by 12 strokes is awesome.”
Some of the best teams in the country were on hand for the invitational, as 10 teams in the 18-team tournament were ranked in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Top 25.
No. 4 Auburn finished in second place with an 8-over 872 (296-286-290), while No. 6 Denver, No. 12 Alabama and No. 13 Duke also competed.
“It’s an awesome feeling,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “It’s something these players have worked hard for so long. They started shooting under par in the fall and they continued to work at it and they really just put it all together this weekend.”
MSU’s previous 54-hole record was an 864 the Spartans shot in April 2006. The scores of 283 and 285 are the second and third, respectively, lowest rounds in program history.
Senior Laura Kueny led MSU with a 4-under 212, while sophomore Shannon Warner finished with an even par 216.
Junior Aimee Neff finished with a 2-over 218 and freshman Caroline Powers rounded out the scoring with a 6-over 222.
Individually, Kueny’s finished tied for second, six shots behind Louisville’s Sara-Maude Juneau’s top score. Warner finished tied for sixth, while Neff finished tied for 11th.
“We just proved to everybody what we can really do and what we can accomplish this year,” Kueny said.
“We have a lot ahead of us, but we’re going to keep working.”
In the past, Slobodnik-Stoll and other players have talked of this team potentially being the best in school history.
After the weekend, goals grew as talk of a possible national championship emerged.
“We’re going to play the best golf we can week in and week out, and you’ve got to push them in different ways because we’re doing things we’ve never done,” Slobodnik-Stoll said.
“As the year’s gone on we’ve continued to progress and you’ve got to dangle the carrot and let them know what they can accomplish.”
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