WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – Coming down to the final few holes of the afternoon across the field, the Anderson University women's golf team fell just short of the necessary top-8 finish to move on in the NCAA National Championships as they posted a one-under round as a team in the third round on Thursday, May 23.
"It is so hard to say goodbye to this season," commented head coach Denton Moore. "This team has been so good all year long. It has been another historic season where we have done things this year that as a program we have never done before. I'm just so proud of this group."
"They worked so hard and accomplished every goal we had. They won the season opener, won four times this season, won the conference title and advanced from regionals to nationals, winning our first ever regional title and breaking all kinds of records along the way. There is not a single thing that happened this week that can take any of that away. It's so important to remember how good this crew was, how hard they worked, and all the success they had throughout the year."
The Trojans finished just three strokes off the pace, turning in a +15 for the tournament and taking home a ninth-place finish.
"Golf is the hardest sport in the world to explain to most people what is successful. This season was as successful as we have ever been as a program. But ultimately, it comes down to what happened this week when we were judged on the national stage, and we didn't play great. We just couldn't quite get any momentum going on the first two days. We played great the last round today and gave ourselves a shot at match play, but unfortunately fell just a few shots short."
Junior Kennedy McGaha (Honea Path, S.C.) finished as the highest ranked Trojan on the leaderboard on the week as she took home a 23rd place finish with a +2 in the tournament. Senior Jessica Rathbone (Montpelier, Va.) and sophomore Kennedy Gooding (Lexington, S.C.) both finished just behind her at +3 on the week. Junior Zoey Iglesias (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) turned in a one-under final round to move up the leaderboard to 53rd in the field while sophomore Paige Paolucci (Blythewood, S.C.), who was subbed in for the last round, turned in a three-over performance in her lone round of the week.
"Kennedy McGaha, Jessica Rathbone, and Kennedy Gooding were all exceptional this week. They all finished top-25 in the best field we saw all year. Zoey, Aly and Paige did a great job of piecing together the final round each day. Sometimes you just get beat, and that's what happened this week. Not a team in the county could have beaten us at regionals. Unfortunately, that elite play came one event too early. Golf is a hard game, and when you are playing at the championship level, you can get beat any week by any team. I am so proud of this team."
"I'm so proud of Austin Castles. He was exceptional this year in his first season with us. We certainly would not have come this far without him out there with us. I'm not sure what I would do without him now that he is here. This team will go down in history as one of the best teams to ever do it. It's a hard way to go out, but when we look back on this season, it was historic. When the pain and sting of this week drifts off in the next few days, we are going to look back on this year with a huge smile and lots of love. I just want to give this crew of young ladies a special thank you for all that they gave this year. We are so thankful for all their effort. We will be back next year for another run at history. Go Trojans!"
