Navy Fall Invitational up next for Women's Golf Team

Setting The Scene
What: 2022 Navy Fall Invitational
When: Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 1-2 (36 holes); 8:30 a.m. tee times Saturday; 9 a.m. shotgun Sunday
Where: Par-72, 6084-yard U.S. Naval Academy Golf Club, Annapolis, Md.
The Field: 16 teams (Bucknell, Bryant, The Citadel, Delaware State, Fairleigh Dickinson, Holy Cross, Howard, La Salle, Lehigh, LIU, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Navy, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, William & Mary)

LIVE SCORING: GolfStat.com

About the Bison

Bucknell will try to carry some momentum from last week's first-place finish down to Annapolis for the Navy Fall Invitational. The 16-team field will likely be battling some wind and rain this weekend as the remnants of Hurricane Ian make their way through the area.
The Bison will see three other Patriot League rivals this week, with Navy, Holy Cross, and Lehigh all in the field.
Bucknell is coming off a banner weekend. The Bison won their annual fall invitational by 15 shots, with sophomore Tara Thomas claiming medalist honors with a record-setting performance.
Bucknell tied the school record with a 296 team score in the second round, and the 905 total was the second-best 54-hole score in team history. The Bison missed the record by two shots, as the 54-hole mark remains 903 at the 2010 Bucknell Invitational.
Thomas tied the school record with a 69 in the second round and then followed it up with a 70 on Sunday, highlighted by a hole-in-one at No. 16. Thomas shot 216 over 54 holes – a new school record by five shots – and ran away with a nine-stroke victory over runner-up Jennifer Sorkin of Mount St. Mary's. Thomas became the first Bison ever to post two rounds of even-par or better in the same tournament.
Thomas, who became the seventh Bison to win the Bucknell Invitational, was named the Patriot League Player of the Week and the Bison of the Week.
Including Thomas, four Bison finished in the top 10 last week. Viveka Kurup, playing for the B squad, shot 77-73-76 and finished T-3rd. Paige Richter shot 74-75-78 en route to a 6th-place finish, and Kelsey Yi tied for ninth with rounds of 82-74-76.
Those four and Cristina Canales will be in the lineup this week at Navy, and Morgan Sohosky will be playing as an individual.
Through three tournaments, Bucknell has averaged 306.6 as a team thus far. That is a 13-shot improvement over the fall 2021 team average of 319.4, and it sits under the school record of 310.1, set in 2019.
For the first time in four years, the Bison counted four scores in the 70s in all three rounds two weeks ago at the Nittany Lion Invitational. The last time that happened was in the fall of 2018 at the Delaware Invitational at Rehoboth Beach CC.
Richter is off to a strong start to her rookie season with all nine rounds in the 70s so far, including a 73 in her first collegiate round at Kingsmill.
Thomas leads the team with a 75.7 scoring average, just ahead of Richter at 76.1 and Kelsey Yi at 76.7.
This is the 25th season for the Bison women's golf program, which debuted in 1998-99. Laura Tyler-Cook is the fourth head coach in team history, following Brad Tufts, Kevin Jamieson, and Lisa Francisco.

The Bison at the Navy Invitational

Bucknell has played in regular-season events hosted by Navy on five occasions, three times in the spring (2021, 2018, 2016) and twice in the fall (2016, 2021). In addition, The Bison have appeared in three Patriot League Championships hosted by the Mids, finishing fifth last season, fourth in 2018, and fifth in 2015.
Bucknell's best showing at a Navy Invitational came in the fall of 2016, when the Bison shot 325-321 and finished ninth in a field of 16 teams. Bucknell was also ninth last year with rounds of 328-326.
The best 18-hole score ever shot on the challenging USNA GC by a Bison player is a 74 from Sun Woo Jeon at last spring's Patriot League Championship. That was one better than Katie Childers's 75 at the 2018 conference tournament. Childers shot 79-75-82 that week and finished fifth to earn All-Patriot League honors.
Bucknell's best team score at Navy is a 317, done in the second round of the Patriot League Championship in both 2018 and 2022.
Richmond and Sacred Heart both shot 607 over 36 holes at last year's Navy Fall Invitational. Nattavadee Khunsri of Delaware State posted a 6-under-par 138 (67-71) to run away with the individual title.

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