March 16, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford women's golf team follows in line after the Bulldog men in hosting their own Samford Intercollegiate next Monday and Tuesday, March 17-18. The two-day event will be held at the par-72, 6,987-yard Limestone Springs Golf Club in Oneonta, Ala.

The 2008 Women's Samford Intercollegiate features 16 teams, eight of which are ranked by Golfstat. The Samford women (#132) welcome three conference foes in Jacksonville State (#105), Murray State (#164) and Tennessee Tech. Also in the field of 16 are UAB, Belmont (#133), Birmingham-Southern (#133), Bradley, Chattanooga, Illinois, Lipscomb (#202), Missouri State (#123), South Alabama, Tulsa, Western Kentucky (#185) and Xavier.

The Samford women come off a week of rest that followed their first tournament win in school history. The Bulldogs took the top spot in their first tournament of the spring at the Ann Rhoads Southern Shootout hosted by Birmingham-Southern. Samford hopes to build on that improvement in its home tournament, and it knows it has to get past some tough competition to get to their goal of top five.

"Our goal for this tournament is finish in the top five, something we haven't done before in our own tournament," Samford assistant coach Ian Thompson said. "This group has improved so much so far and they know that the level of competition in this tournament is much higher than the level they have faced in the past two tournaments. I think if we can continue the consistent play we have had so far, we should do very well."

South Alabama is the reigning champion of the women's Samford Intercollegiate. The Lady Jaguars won the title in 2007 by one stroke, ahead of Eastern Kentucky. Birmingham-Southern has always been tough competition for the Bulldogs and return to the Samford Intercollegiate field after a break in 2007. The Panthers took the title in 2006 with a 14 stroke lead over their opponents. Samford's rival, in-state and conference-wise, Jacksonville State, was the winner of the first Samford Intercollegiate. Since then, the Gamecocks have been consistently in the top five, coming second in 2005 and 2006, and finishing fourth in 2007.

The 2007 individual medalist, Belmont's Lorie Warren, returns to try to repeat. However, she has some stiff competition in Jordan Hardy, the 2006 second place finisher, as well as Bulldog duo Sara Hunt and Katelyn Stanier. Hunt, a transfer from Birmingham-Southern, made an immediate impact on the Samford program with two top 20 finishes in the fall campaign. Stanier is the OVC's reigning individual medalist. The Newnan, Ga., native was named first-team all-OVC and tournament MVP after winning the individual title, an accomplishment that followed her history-making first medal win at the Southern Miss Lady Eagle Classic.

The first round of the Samford Intercollegiate will get under way, Monday, March 17, with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. The field will play two rounds of 18 holes in day one and will resume play on day two with another round of 18 at another 8:30 a.m. shotgun start. A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each day of play.