St. Ambrose Claims Second Straight Women's Golf Title

LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. --- Led by four Top 10 finishers, St. Ambrose University rallied from a first-day, 17-stroke deficit to claim its second straight Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference women's golf title on Thursday afternoon.

After shooting a 359 to fall into second place after the opening round on Wednesday, the Fighting Bees stormed back to register a tournament-low 336 on Thursday to claim the five-team championship. 

St. Ambrose wound up winning by an impressive 14 strokes courtesy of its 23-shot improvement between the two days to finish at 695.  The Bees were the only team to shoot under 700, with Olivet Nazarene University next in line.  The Tigers led after Day 1 with their 345 before recording a 364 on Thursday for a two-day total of 364. 

The rest of the team scoring had Viterbo University at 740 (366-374) to place third, followed by Holy Cross College at 742 (383-359) and Saint Xavier University at 827 (406-421).

Among individual performers, Olivet Nazarene's Lizzie Howard claimed medalist honors with her two-day 168 total (81-87).  That was three strokes better than both St. Ambrose's Amara Lytle and Holy Cross' Jill Daniels, each of whom recorded a 171 to garner all-tournament recognition.  Lytle (90-81) gained the tie-breaker to place second over Daniels (84-87).

There was also a three-way tie for fourth place between Viterbo's Lillia Rather and St. Ambrose's Gabrielle Langlois and Anna Hurning with all three shooting a 175.  That forced another tie-breaker with Langlois (88-87) earning the No. 4 spot, followed by Rather (88-87) at No. 5 to round out the list of all-tournament selections. 

Hunning (95-80) authored the top round for the tournament with her 80 on Thursday.

The title advances St. Ambrose to the NAIA National Championships May 13-16 at Eagle Crest Golf Club in Ypsilanti, Mich.

Howard also punched her ticket to the finals by virtue of winning the conference individual title.  A total of 30 golfers made up the field.

For the complete tournament results, go to Results.