COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – Sophomore Naomi Soifua finished tied for eighth place at the Coeur d'Alene Collegiate Championship to give BYU its first individual top-10 finish of the season. As a team, the Cougars finished in fifth place.
"It was a good improvement from our last tournament," BYU head coach Carrie Roberts said. "It was nice to see some solid rounds, but we just need to keep getting better."
Soifua improved in all three rounds of the tournament, shooting a 74 (+3), 71 (E) and finishing with a 70 (-1) in the final round on Tuesday. This is Soifua's fifth time finishing in the top 10 as a Cougar, after she did so four times during her West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year campaign last season.
BYU's five golfers combined for an 873, with just two strokes separating the third-place Idaho (871), fourth-place California (872) and the Cougars. Illinois took the top team spot, with three golfers in the top 10 and all five finishing in the top 20 with a combined score of 852. Fellow WCC schools San Francisco and Gonzaga also competed in the tournament, taking 12th and 15th place, respectively.
Junior Anna Kennedy was tied for third place after the first two rounds yesterday, and managed to remain in the top 20 with a 13th-place finish in the tournament. This is the fourth career top-20 finish for Kennedy at BYU.
Despite some first-round struggles, senior Rose Huang was able to come back and shoot an even 71 in the second round and a 73 (+2) in today's final round to give BYU a top-five finish as a team.
Allysha Mae Mateo and Annick Haczkiewicz finished 52nd and 68th, respectively. Mateo shot a first-round 72 (+1) while Haczkiewicz carded a 73 (+2) in the first round as their top marks of the tournament.
The Cougars have a two-week break before resuming competition Oct. 8-9 at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Seattle. The leaderboard and live stats can be found at GolfStat.com.