Sept. 21, 2017
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The San Diego State women's golf team resumes its fall schedule early next week when it travels to the Rockies to participate in the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Sept. 25-27, in Wolcott, Colorado. The two-time defending champion Aztecs will play 18 holes on each of the tournament's three days, starting at 10 a.m. MT/9 a.m. PT on the par-72, 6,261-yard Tom Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club.
A total of 18 different Division I conferences will be represented by one of their member institutions at the ninth annual event hosted by Golfweek. In pursuit of its third consecutive crown, SDSU will battle the likes of Akron, Arizona, Campbell, Central Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Denver, Eastern Kentucky, Louisville, Mercer, Michigan, Old Dominion, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, SMU, TCU and UC Riverside.
Seventh-year Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding will accompany five golfers to the Centennial State, including senior Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.), freshman Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland), senior Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.), freshman Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden) and sophomore Fernanda Escauriza (Asunción, Paraguay).
SDSU is coming off a solid fifth-place performance at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational earlier this month in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it shot a 12-over-par 876 in a stacked field that featured seven schools ranked in the Golfweek Preseason Top 30. Individually, Lacey, Carpinelli and Kjellker each tied for 25th at 4-over 220 in the Aztecs' season opener, while Krause finished three shots behind the trio in a tie for 44th at 7-over 223.
On the other hand, Escauriza will be making her first appearance of the 2017-18 campaign next week. The native Paraguayan is the reigning Mountain West individual champion.
Krause and Lacey have contributed to both of SDSU's tournament titles at Red Sky Golf Club in the past two years. Last fall, Krause tied for 14th out of 90 golfers with a 3-over 219, highlighted by season-low 70 in the second round, while Lacey finished in the 26th spot at 6-over 222.
As a team, the Scarlet and Black (+2) held off a late charge by Denver midway through the final round, combining for nine birdies and one eagle on the back nine to win by eight strokes over the host Pioneers (+10) and Pepperdine (+10).
In the 2015 edition of the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Krause logged her highest collegiate placement by tying for eighth at 220, including a 3-under 69 in the final round. Lacey also carded a 69 in the second round en route to a 17th-place standing at 223.
Former Aztec All-American Emma Henrikson captured medalist honors that season, becoming the first player in the event's history to finish with a double-digit score below par after firing a 10-under 206, while Sirene Blair (+2) finished a solo fourth to help SDSU (-6) top TCU (+14) by 20 strokes.
Should the Aztecs take home the crown once again next week, they will match Pepperdine's streak of three straight event titles from 2012-14.
Coastal Carolina's Malene Krolboll Hansen, who shot a winning total of 9-under 207 last year, will be looking to defend her individual title, while fellow teammate Marie Lunackova (3rd, -4) is also back in the mix, along with Pepperdine's Katherine Zhu (4th, -3) and Denver's Camille Enright (T-10th, +1).
Located near the renowned Vail Ski Area, the Tom Fazio Course features open sage covered hills and dense aspen forest around a highland lake. Fazio's design team has made a meticulous effort to maintain the site's indigenous vegetation by relocating more than 23,000 native plants into nurseries for re-planting throughout the course.
Following next week's event, San Diego State returns to the fairways for the Windy City Collegiate Classic, Oct. 2-3, at Northmoor Country Club in Highland Park, Illinois. The Aztecs last competed at Northwestern University's home tournament in 2010, when they finished fifth out of 11 schools.