Feb. 11, 2008

San Diego State Tournament Notes in PDF Format

SDSU Looks For Third Straight Win At UCR's Lady Braveheart Classic
The San Diego State women's golf team kicks off its spring season this week by heading to the fourth annual Lady Braveheart Challenge in Beaumont, Calif., Feb. 11-12. The Aztecs are two-time defending team champions, having won last year's edition by 10 strokes and the 2006 event by eight strokes.

The 2008 tournament is being hosted by UC Riverside at the Oak Valley Golf Club, which serves as the course for this year's tourney for the third consecutive season.

This is the fourth year in a row that SDSU has begun its spring schedule in the state of California.

Eleven Aztecs Headed To Riverside
Aztec head coach Felicia Brown will bring 11 student-athletes to this week's event in Riverside. Five players, true freshmen Stephanie Arcala (Oceanside, Calif.) and Samantha Roberts (Carlsbad, Calif.), redshirt sophomore Petra Cole (San Diego, Calif.) and juniors Jackie Kazarian (Dana Point, Calif.) and Maki Kamimura (West Covina, Calif.), will count toward team scoring. Six others, freshmen Faith DeGuzman (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Kaitlen Miyajima (Wailuku, Hawaii), sophomore Ashley Wood (Lake Tahoe, Calif.), junior Alana Erlandson (Palm Desert, Calif.) and seniors Anna Booth (Coffs Harbour, Australia) and Kim Carmody (Palatine, Ill.) will be competing as individuals.

Six of the eleven golfers participated in last year's tournament, while Booth, Erlandson and Kamimura have played in each of the last two Lady Braveheart Classics.

Flashback: 2007 Lady Braveheart Classic
The San Diego State women's golf team claimed the Lady Braveheart Challenge title for the second year in a row, cruising to a 10-stroke win with a 36-hole score of 45-over 621 at the par-72, 6,080-yard Oak Valley Golf Club in Beaumont, Calif., Feb. 12-13. The Aztecs entered the second and final day deadlocked with UC Davis atop the 17-team field, but posted a 24-over 312 in the final 18 holes, which tied as the lowest round of the morning, despite battling hail and rain.

SDSU had four players finish in the top 11 among the 94 golfers in the event. Sophomore Alana Erlandson improved two spots in the final standings, posting a 3-over 75 for a two-day score of 152, to end up tied for third place, her best-ever career finish. Redshirt sophomore Jackie Kazarian, who fired a 4-over 76 on day one, was unable to replicate her performance, posting a 79 to finish tied for seventh with a 155.

The Aztecs' other three golfers each duplicated their first-round scores. Senior Jamie Oliver and sophomore Maki Kamimura both carded first-round scores of 78 and followed that up with a 79 to tie for 11th place at 13-over 157. Junior transfer Kim Carmody rounded out SDSU's starting five with a 36-hole score of 166.

Three Aztecs also competed as individuals. Junior Anna Booth moved up six slots into a tie for 18th with a second-round 80 for a two-day total of 161. Junior MacKenzie Swecker tied for 44th place (168), while redshirt freshman Ashley Wood ended up tied for 67th (174).

San Diego State's team score of 621 was three strokes better than its winning performance at last year's Lady Braveheart Challenge, which it won with a 48-over 624 on the same golf course.

Rewind: Aztec's 2007 Fall Campaign
San Diego State competed in just four tournaments during its 2007 fall campaign. The Aztecs posted a season-high third-place finish at the opening LaQuinta Inn & Suites Shootout in Arizona and also logged top-10 team performances at the Colorado Heather Farr Memorial Invite (10th) and the annual Aztec Fall Classic (8th). SDSU ended the year in 15th place at the talent-laden Kent Youel Invitational in Hawaii.

Senior Anna Booth finished with the best stroke average of the fall of 77.71, including a career-best 4-over 220 at the Colorado tournament. Booth's 54-hole score tied for 10th in school history and is the best performance by an Aztec since March 2006. She beat her previous career-low by seven strokes, which she set back in 2005 on the Aztecs' home course.

Coming Attractions
San Diego State will remain in-state when the team heads to Fresno, Calif., Feb. 25-26, for the Fresno State Invitational at Copper River Country Club. The Aztecs will then go to Hawaii for the second time this season for the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational, scheduled for March 17-19.

Head Coach Felicia Brown
Head coach Felicia Brown is in her sixth season at the helm of the SDSU golf program after serving as an assistant in 2001-02. A native San Diegan, Brown prepped locally at San Marcos High School before playing collegiately at Arizona.

She is assisted by Doug Barba for the fifth year in a row.