Women's Golf Closes Out Fall Campaign at Lehigh Invitational

Monday, October 23

Bethlehem, Pa. (Saucon Valley CC)

All Day

Bucknell University

Lehigh Invitational

Photo by: Ben Popko

Women's Golf Closes Out Fall Campaign at Lehigh Invitational

10/22/2023 10:54:00 AM | Women's Golf

Setting The Scene
What: 2023 Lehigh Invitational
When: Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 23-24 (36 holes); 10:30 a.m. tee times Monday; 9:30 a.m. tee times Tuesday
Where: Par-72, 6012-yard Saucon Valley Country Club (Grace Course), Bethlehem, Pa.
The Field: 16 teams (UAlbany, Bethune-Cookman, Bucknell, Fairfield, FDU, Holy Cross, Howard, La Salle, Lehigh, LeMoyne, LIU, Merrimack, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Saint Francis, Stonehill.)

Live Scoring: GolfStat.com

About the Bison

Bucknell wraps up the fall season at the Lehigh Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at Saucon Valley Country Club. The facility has hosted a number of major USGA events through the year, including the 2009 U.S. Women's Open, won by Eun-Hee Ji, and several U.S. Senior Open Championships.
Bucknell's lineup will consist of Sofia Nogalo, Paige Richter, Nicole Yun, Cristina Canales, and Katherine Vice.
It has been an outstanding fall thus far for the Bison. The team has an average score of 305.9 per round, which would be a school record by a significant margin. The previous mark for a fall season was 310.1 in 2018.
Bucknell has finished no worse than fourth in any of its first four tournaments of the season. The Bison placed second at their own invitational to start the season, and then took fourth at each of the next three: the Hornet Classic at Rehoboth Beach, the Roseann Schwartz Invitational, and the Navy Fall Invitational.
The Bison have been idle since Navy's event three weeks ago. Bucknell turned in its best-ever showing on that challenging course, posting rounds of 314-310. The Bison were situated in the middle of the 15-team field late on Sunday, but late-round birdies from Nogalo, Richter, and Yun surged the team up to fourth place, behind only Navy, Towson, and Howard.
Nogalo has been especially impressive in her rookie campaign. She leads the team with a 75.3 scoring average and has finished in the top 10 in three of her four events. She tied for first at Youngstown State's Roseann Schwartz Invitational (but settled for runner-up based on low final-round score) and also finished T-3rd at the Bucknell Invitational and T-8th at the Navy Fall Invitational.
Nogalo was named the Patriot League Player of the Week after Youngstown State and the Bison of the Week after Navy.
Richter is second on the squad with a 76.0 average and also has a top-10 finish to her credit. She was 10th at Rehoboth Beach last month.
Yun (77.4), Canales (77.9), Kayla Yi (78.1), and Lila Smith (79.3) all have sub-80 scoring averages this fall. Smith has the team's low round thus far, a school-record 68 in round two at the Bucknell Invitational.
The Bison set team 18-, 36-, and 54-hole scoring records with rounds of 292-299-305 at the Bucknell Invitational.

The Lehigh Invitational

This will be Bucknell's first time playing at Saucon Valley Country Club since the 2021 Patriot League Championship. The Bison placed fourth there that year with rounds of 316-324-313. Cristina Canales was the low Bison with a T-11th finish (81-77-78) to close out her freshman year. Canales is the only Bucknell player who was in the lineup that week who will be teeing it up there this year.
Prior to 2021, Bucknell's last visit to Saucon Valley came during the 2016-17 season, when the Bison played in both the Lehigh Invitational in the fall and the Patriot League Championship in the spring.
Bucknell finished sixth out of nine teams at the 2016 Lehigh Invitational, carding rounds of 333-325. Lindsay Dodovich led the Bison with a T-15th finish. Later that spring, the Bison placed fifth at the Patriot League Championship with rounds of 324-320-323. Dodovich placed ninth to earn All-Patriot League honors.
Bucknell's best memory of Saucon Valley was winning the 2014 Patriot League Championship there. The Bison shot 930 (313-306-311) to take the title, with Lauren Bernard, Bridget Wilcox, and Kasha Scott finishing 3-4-5.

Next Up

Bucknell's fall season will be complete after the Lehigh Invitational, and the Bison will next set their sights on the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, hosted by UNC Greensboro at Hammock Creek GC in Palm City, Fla.
Bucknell will host the 2024 Patriot League Championship at Bucknell Golf Club on Apr. 19-21.