ASUN women's golf: Five things to know as North Florida, Jacksonville head to Alabama
The University of North Florida will defend its ASUN women's golf championship beginning Sunday at Hampton Cove in Huntsville, Ala., a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course.
The Ospreys won their third ASUN title last year at Kinderlou Forest in Valdosta, Ga., edging Kennesaw by four shots. UNF returned three starters from that team and coach Joanne Berglund then had her team take on the most difficult spring schedule in school history.
"It was more challenging, but we gained a lot of experience playing as a team in those environments," she said.
1. The usual suspects
UNF and Kennesaw have combined to win the last seven ASUN championships, with the Ospreys winning three and the Owls four. The last ASUN member in this year's field to have won a conference title other than those two was Stetson in 2011.
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However, Lipscomb has emerged this year to nudge UNF to third in the conference on the two major national rankings. Kennesaw is 73rd on Golfstat and 75th on Golfweek; Lipscomb is 79th on Golfweek and 92nd on Golfstat; and the Ospreys are 100th on both rankings.
UNF has the highest-ranked player in the conference, junior Christin Eisenbeiss (147th on Golfstat, 187th on Golfweek), with no other league player among the top 200. Mary Kate Smith of Lipscomb is next at No. 239. Both were named co-ASUN players of the year by the conference coaches.
But Kennesaw has good depth and is the only ASUN team with three players inside the top 336 on Golfweek.
2. About that UNF schedule
The Ospreys won four tournaments in a row in the spring of 2021. Last season, they never finished lower than seventh in a spring tournament and had four top-five finishes with one team title among its five events leading to the ASUN tournament.
This spring, UNF has two top-four finishes but three of 13th or lower.
What's the difference?
The competition.
Last spring the Ospreys played in tournaments that had a combined six opponents in Golfstat's top 50. This season, UNF has faced fields with 21 top-50 teams.
More good news for UNF is that they posted perhaps their strongest overall team finish last week with a solo fourth in the Ironwood Invitational in Greenville, S.C. Four players, led by junior Jesse Cai and graduate senior Daniela Gonzalez (both tied for 11th), finished among the top-16.
3. Watch out for JU
ASUN teams should probably not take the Dolphins for granted based on their last outing, a last-place finish among 18 teams in the Chattanooga Classic.
The Dolphins finished sixth or higher in three of their other four spring tournaments and were among the top 10 in seven of their nine events, including the fall. Junior Susana Olivares became the first medalist of the season at the Rivertown Intercollegiate and has four top-10s. Freshman Ivette Rodrigues has three top-10s and sophomore Casey Powell has four top-16s.
4. Eisenbeiss has been steady
Eisenbeiss has been UNF's most consistent player in the fall and spring, logging eight top-25s in nine starts and four top-10s. Berglund said some hard work on her short game and putting, plus a stronger mental approach to the game, have been the keys.
"She doesn't waver much on the golf course," Berglund said. "Her overall game is much more consistent."
Eisenbeiss had five top-10s last year and the same number of top-25s. But she's had almost the same results against much deeper fields and has knocked more than a half-stroke from her scoring average, going from 72.94 to 72.41.
5. Who's playing?
UNF is starting Eisenbeiss, Cai, Gonzales, senior Sarah Scott and sophomore Kaitlyn Washburn. Eisenbeiss, Cai and Gonzales are the returning starters from last year's ASUN champions.
JU is starting Olivares, Rodrigues, Powell, junior Jenna Wells and senior Laura Pasalodos.
In addition to UNF, JU, Kennesaw, Lipscomb and Stetson, the other ASUN teams in the field are Florida Gulf Coast, Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, North Alabama, Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Central Arkansas and Queens.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: ASUN women's golf: Five things to know about UNF, JU in conference tournament
