Lady Pirate Golfers Open Season at Cougar Invitational
September 12, 2003 | Men's Golf
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- The East Carolina women's golf team will open its 2003-04 season on Monday, Sept. 15, at the Cougar Fall Invitational. The tournament is hosted by the College of Charleston and is being played in Hanahan, S.C., at the Par-72, 6,026-yard Yeamans Hall Golf Club.
The Lady Pirates are looking to improve on last years 132-33-3 record, a pair of top 40 rankings by Golfstat (No. 34) and GolfWeek (No. 37), and its first ever NCAA East Regional Championships, which they finished tied for 14th out of 21 teams.
Head coach Kevin Williams expects his squad to put up some good numbers this season with the entire team returning from a third place C-USA finish.
"There is a lot of expectations for this season," said Williams. "My job is to find a way to handle all those expectations. Last year our team flew under the radar so to speak, with a lot of teams not knowing who we were. This year that has changed especially with GolfWeek coming out and ranking us in their preseason top 30. We are going to be a target for a lot of teams and beating us would make their season."
ECU is lead by seniors Jessica Krasny and Adrienne Millican, both earned second team All-CUSA honors in 2002. Krasny finished the season with a 75.48 18-hole stroke average, collecting five top 10 finishes including a pair of first place trophies at the Edwin Watts Carolina's Classic and the Lady Seahawk Invitational. She also earned Co-Golfer of the Month honors from C-USA in March of 2003.
Millican completed the 2002-03 season with a 75.62 18-hole stroke average and six top 10 finishes including the Baytree Classic championship. She was also honored by the National Golf Coaches Association as a member of the 2003 NCAA Division I All-Scholar Team.
"Our team this year should be much improved from last," stated Williams. "We are fortunate to have depth this year with the addition of our freshman class. Right now, we know that Krasny, Millican and senior Margaret Mitchell will be starting for us. The fourth and fifth spots is where the competition will be up for grabs. Right now seniors Alyssa Hayes and Ashley Leonard along with freshman Jessica Hauser are battling for the fourth and fifth starting spots."
The Cougar Invitational is the first of five fall tournaments for the Lady Pirates and will include 17 teams in the field, two of which are preseason top 30 this season. The field consists of Appalachian State, Campbell, College of Charleston, Cincinnati, East Carolina (No. 27), Furman (No. 26), Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Mississippi, N.C. State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Richmond, South Florida and Virginia.
ECU fans will be able to keep up with the Pirates during the Cougar Invitational via satellite at SBS 6, transponder 4, frequency is 11798 Vertical or can get up to date scoring online at GolfStat .com.
The Lady Pirates next tournament will be in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 20-2, when they participate in the Cardinal Cup at the Cardinal Golf Club.
