STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Posting a weekend-low team score in Sunday's final round, the Navy women's golf team finished in ninth place at the Nittany Lion Invitational to open the 2022-23 season.
 
Being played at the Penn State Blue Course in State College, Pa., the Midshipmen found themselves 12th at 32-over par 608 following the opening two rounds on Saturday, posting identical team scores of 16-over par 304 in both the first and second rounds, before shooting a 9-over par 297 in the final round to earn ninth place at 41-over par 905.
 
The 905 score from Navy ranks seventh in program history for a 54-hole tournament, while the 297 score in the final round is tied for the eighth-lowest overall round by the Midshipmen all-time. The 9-over par 297 on Sunday is also tied for the sixth-best round in relation to par across the program's 11-year history.
 
"It was great to start our season playing at Penn State," said Navy head coach Nadia Ste-Marie. "I'm so very proud of our team and how everyone played this weekend. We had many great scores over the three rounds and finished on a strong note."
 
The host, Penn State, won the event at a team score of 3-under par 861, while Kennesaw State was the runner-up at 13-over par 877. Boston College (14-over par 878), Youngstown State (26-over par 890) and Richmond (30-over par 894) rounded out the top-five teams. Individually, Toledo's Amelia Lee was the top golfer with a 7-under par 209 performance, while Richmond's Hannah Lydic and Penn State's Mathilde Delavallade finished in second and third, shooting 3-under par 213 and 2-under par 214, respectively.
 
Leading the way for the Mids was junior Stephanie Lee, who shot a team-low even-par 72 in the first round before having a tough afternoon round on Saturday with a 7-over par 79, as she was second on the team and tied for 35th overall at 7-over par 151 after 36 holes. Lee responded on Sunday by registering an even-par 72 in the final round, finishing her weekend in 24th place at 7-over par 223. Her weekend score of 223 puts her tied for 13th in program history for an individual score at a 54-hole tournament.
 
Fellow junior Mara Hirtle started Saturday with a 3-over par 75 to sit second on the team after the opening round, but stayed consistent in the second round with another 3-over par 75 to be the top Mid after two rounds at 6-over par 150, sitting in a tie for 29th on the leaderboard entering Sunday. She closed the weekend by shooting a 4-over par 76 on Sunday, wrapping up her first event of the season tied for 32nd in the field at 10-over par 226.
 
Despite shooting a 7-over par 79 in the opening round, Sophomore Bridget Hoang recovered later on Saturday with a 4-over par 76 in the second round to put herself tied for 62nd among all golfers at 11-over par 155 at the end of Saturday. On Sunday, Hoang shot a her best round of the weekend with a 2-over par 74 performance to pull herself up into a tie for 46th place, posting a weekend total of 13-over par 229.
 
Senior captain Eve Worden bounced back after recording a 10-over par 82 in the first round, finishing Saturday at 14-over par 158 after tallying a score of 4-over par 76 in the second round. Worden continued to improve as the weekend came to a close, shooting a 3-over par 75 on Sunday to finish with a weekend score of 17-over par 233 and end up tied in 62nd place.
 
Competing in her first collegiate event, freshman Sue Lee posted scores of 6-over par 78 and 5-over par 77 in Saturday's first two rounds and found herself tied with Hoang in 62nd with a 36-hole score of 11-over par 155. The rookie tumbled a bit on Sunday with a final round of 11-over par 83, falling to end the weekend tied for 78th place at 22-over par 238.
 
Navy returns to action on Oct. 1-2 to host the Navy Fall Invitational at the U.S. Naval Academy Golf Club.