Following their seventh place finish amongst a pool of seventeen teams at the Illinois Wesleyan Invite on April 13, the Gustavus Women’s Golf team competed in the 2019 Royal Match at Deer Run Golf Club this past weekend.

The two-day match consisted of eight schools from the MIAC, with Bethel University being the official host.

After day one, the Gusties found themselves sitting in fourth place with a couple standout performances from first-years Erin Ericson and Sydney Regalado.

Ericson shot a 75 after the first round, leaving her in a three-way tie for second place and one stroke behind the leader. Head Coach Scott Moe was specifically happy to see Ericson putting everything together this weekend.

“Erin had been hitting it well but wasn’t able to put it all together and find the bottom of the cup, so it was nice to see that out of her today,” Moe said.

Regalado carded a 78 after the first day which was good enough for seventh place amongst a field of 48 women.

Moe was positive when speaking about Regalado, particularly about how well she performed on the longer holes of the day.

“Sydney played great on the par fives which had been a struggle for her as of late, so hopefully we will see the whole picture come together tomorrow,” Moe said.

First-year Emily Kratz and Seniors Kennedy Sommerfeld and Ellie Brandt posted scores of 93, 85, and 84, respectively.

“As a whole we got off to a weak start as we were looking for better results coming out of the gates” Moe said. “There were a lot of very close scores at the top of the leaderboard and we will need four good scores tomorrow, and it’s something we’re capable of doing.”

After day one of competition, the Gusties posted a team score of 322, with St. Catherine and St. Benedict tied for the top spot at 316.

After day two of the 2019 Royal Match, the women ended with a score of 652, good enough for fourth place in the event.

Brandt led the Gusties on the second day posting a score of 78. Brandt shot a 162 total on the weekend, good enough for ninth place.

Regalado posted the best combined score for the black and gold, with a score of 83 after the second day.

Her two day score of 161 placed her in a tie for seventh amongst a strong pool of women.

Ericson, Sommerfeld and Kratz finished out their weekends with combined scores of 163, 166, and 181, respectively.

Juniors Morgan Bleyhl and Lanie Altmann golfed as individuals for the Gusties, with Bleyhl shooting 83 and Altmann shooting 89 on day two.

Bleyhl was the top scoring individual golfer at the event, shooting a 162 on the weekend. Her two-day score was good enough for ninth amongst the entire pool of women.

“It was a bit of a struggle for the team score today,” Moe said. “We had a little different wind than yesterday and had a difficult time adjusting to the quicker pace of the greens.

Despite the fourth place finish, Moe was optimistic for what is to come in the future for the women’s season.

“The team is going to enjoy a nice weekend with family for Easter, then we will get back to campus on Tuesday and get ready for the Carleton Invite.” Moe said.

The women will be back in action on April 27 and 28 as they compete in the Carleton Invitational. Tee off will be at 1:00 p.m. on both days, with the rounds being played at Willingers Golf Club (Saturday) and Northfield Golf Club (Sunday), both located in Northfield, Minnesota.