LAKELAND, Fla. – With three players finishing among the top-13 and paced by junior Jessica Rathbone's three-round, 3-over-par 219, the Anderson women's golf team moved up two spots and finished third at the 2023 Lady Moc Classic, Tuesday afternoon.
Florida Southern hosted the two-day, 54-hole tournament on a par-72, 6,105 yard Grasslands Golf and Country Club layout.
"Really proud of the grit and grind from the girls today," said Anderson Head Women's Coach Denton Moore. "We didn't handle the wind well yesterday. They handled it like champs today. We got off to the start we needed. Then we played well on the back nine which is definitely the harder of the two nines. Then they closed super strong on our last few holes of the front nine. Shooting even-par today as a unit was a huge round, and we closed out the tournament the way we needed. We always go to win, but we got some massive head-to head-wins in the region. That performance should have us NCAA Tournament bound again."
The tourney, which featured five of the top-10 squads in the country, saw nationally second-ranked Lynn post a convincing 21-shot victory over runner-up and fourth-ranked Nova Southeastern. The Trojans, who posted the third-best round of the day on Tuesday, finished 14 strokes further back in third place after overtaking the host Lady Mocs and West Florida. Florida Southern claimed fourth place, with Rollins moving up two spots into fifth. Tampa climbed three slots into a sixth-place finish, while Flagler and Limestone finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
Barry vaulted five spots into ninth place on Tuesday, with West Florida sliding seven spots and finishing 10th. Saint Leo, Eckerd, Palm Beach Atlantic, Columbus State, North Georgia, Embry-Riddle, Western New Mexico and Ashland finished out the 18-team field.
Lynn's Maria Hoyos (66-71-69-206) claimed a wire-to-wire win by five shots over runner-up Loren Perez (69-73-69-211) from Florida Southern. Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (76-68-68-212) and Lynn's Sara Ericsson (70-70-72-212) shared third place.
Rathbone finished alone in 12th place, while grad student Kerington Lamb vaulted up 17 spots and finished in a three-way tie for 13th place - alongside sophomore Zoey Iglesias - behind a season-low, final-round 3-under 69 for the Easley native.
Sophomore Kennedy McGaha and freshman Paige Paolucci shared 28th place, with senior Emma Charles climbing 11 spots and finishing in a tie for 42nd, along with freshman Kennedy Gooding, who also moved up 11 spots. Freshman Aly Francis claimed a share of 67th place.
"So proud of Kerington Lamb," added Moore. "She battled all week, and then closed out the round in style with four straight birdies to shoot 69. She was so huge today. Jessica Rathbone did exactly what she always does - play like an All-American. She was solid from start to finish. Kennedy MacGaha was strong as well. She closed with a great round when we needed her the most today. Aly Francis was big for us yesterday. She is playing well as a freshman. She is going to be a good one here. I just don't have words for how proud I am of Paige Paolucci. It was her first time in the lineup. It was also on the biggest stage we will see this year until the postseason. She was so consistent and solid all week. She proved a lot to me and Coach Neal this week. We needed her every round, and she came through clutch every time. Zoey Iglesias was awesome this week in the individual slot. She had a huge top-15 finish. She loves her home state of Florida, and Florida loves her as well! Kennedy Gooding and Emma Charles played solid golf as well. Kennedy played consistent all week, and she is getting better and better as a freshman. Emma closed out with two strong rounds and is really trending in a good direction. This was a solid event for us, and we did what we needed to. We will rest up for a couple days, and then hit the road again for Charleston this weekend. I can't wait to get back out there. This team is so much fun to coach, and we are just getting started! Go Trojans!"
The Trojans will get back in action at next week's Low Tide Intercollegiate, which will be hosted at the Dunes West Golf Club in Charleston.
Notables
• Lynn's 54-hole, 13-under-par 850 marked a Lady Moc Classic record.
• AU's third-round 288 matched the seventh-lowest 18-hole score in program history.
• The Trojans three-round 885 matched the sixth-best score in program history.
• Lamb's third-round 69 matched the ninth-lowest 18-hole score in program history.
• Rathbone's first-round 2-under 70 matched her third-lowest round of the year.
• Iglesias' first-round 71 matched her second-lowest round of the year.
• Paolucci's opening-round 74 marked her second-lowest round of the year.
3 Anderson 292 305 288 885
12 Jessica Rathbone 70 76 73 219
T13 Kerington Lamb 73 78 69 220
T28 Kennedy McGaha 75 77 72 224
T28 Paige Paolucci 74 76 74 224
T67 Aly Francis 81 76 78 235
Teams Scores
1 Lynn 275 288 287 850 -14
2 Nova Southeastern 295 291 285 871 +7
3 Anderson 292 305 288 885 +21
4 Florida Southern 292 303 293 888 +24
5 Rollins 302 300 294 896 +32
6 Tampa 303 301 293 897 +33
7 Flagler 297 301 300 898 +34
8 Limestone 302 301 300 903 +39
9 Barry 305 310 289 904 +40
10 West Florida 292 303 310 905 +41
11 Saint Leo 310 309 295 914 +50
12 Eckerd 296 318 301 915 +51
13 Palm Beach Atlantic 311 309 297 917 +53
14 Columbus State 304 303 314 921 +57
15 North Georgia 299 311 314 924 +60
16 Embry-Riddle 305 309 330 944 +80
17 Western New Mexico 309 329 313 951 +87
18 Ashland 320 343 314 977 +113
