Michigan State women’s golf headed to NCAA regionals
EAST LANSING - The Big Ten champion Michigan State women’s golf team will travel to Athens, Georgia, for the NCAA Regionals, it was announced on Thursday. The Spartans are the No. 14 seed in the NCAA Athens Regional and will play May 8-10 at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
It marks the 18th time in the last 19 seasons that the Spartans have earned an NCAA Regional berth.
“It’s great,” said MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, who was voted Big Ten Coach of Year earlier this week. “(Assistant coach) Caroline (Powers) and I both have a ton of experience on the golf course. Knowing the last time I went there we walked off as the ninth-best team in the country is a very comforting feeling. We used to play in Georgia’s home tournament for years, so Caroline and I have a very good idea of what the golf course is, how it’s going to play, and what we’ll need to work on before we go.”
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Powers, the Spartans’ assistant coach, was a part of Slobodnik-Stoll’s 2013 team that placed ninth at the NCAA Championships at the UGA Golf Course.
Athens is one of four NCAA Regional sites that each contains 18 teams. The other sites include Albuquerque, New Mexico, Columbus, Ohio, and Lubbock, Texas. The top six teams and top-three individuals not from those qualifying teams from each regional will advance to the national championships. The NCAA Championships will take place May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
The Athens regional includes the following teams, in order of seeding: Alabama, Georgia, Northwestern, Arizona, Baylor, Wake Forest, UCF, Tennessee, North Carolina, Clemson, Augusta, Auburn, Kansas State, Michigan State, Troy, Princeton, North Florida and Quinnipiac. MSU received an automatic bid as Big Ten champions.
The Spartans will bring a good amount of momentum into the Athens Regional as they have won each of their last two tournaments and placed in the top six in their last five showings. MSU, which is now ranked 49th in the Golfweek/Saragin rankings, got its first tourney win of the year at the Lady Buckeye (April 15-16), before capturing the program’s fourth Big Ten championship since 2011 last weekend at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
“I can’t say enough about them right now, both as individuals and as a team,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “As we all know, a lot of team success is based on team chemistry and this group of young women is so special in their own right and they all bring different things to the team.
“As Coach Izzo always says, it’s very difficult to win championships. We’re just so fortunate at Michigan State to have won quite a few in the last 10 to 20 years. We’re blessed and thankful for the kids we’re able to recruit that come here and believe in Michigan State and our program. They also believe in what they’re capable of doing and they’re willing to do the work to make that happen.”
Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Burnham, who is ranked 37th by Golfweek/Sagarin, has been a major force for the Spartans over the last month. She has been the runner-up in each of the last two tournaments and her 72.17 scoring average is on pace to break her school single-season record (72.42) established last year.
Burnham, a junior, qualified for last year’s NCAA Championships after tying for ninth at regionals. She will join junior Katie Sharp and sophomore Carolyn Markley as the three Spartans with NCAA Regionals experience.
Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ally Geer, will be making her first NCAA Regionals appearance. Her 73.44 scoring average is second on the team. She placed fifth at the Lady Buckeye and fourth at the Big Ten Championships.
- MSU Athletic Communications