With the confidence and high expectations that the Ball State University women's golf team had going into the Southern Illinois University Saluki Invitational, it was hard to imagine the Cardinals finishing anywhere but at the top.
However, the Cardinals got off to a rough start, leaving them eight strokes back in a tie for second after day one. Day two brought better scores, but Ball State was only able to make up four strokes on eventual winner Drake (313-317=630).
Freshman Kristtini Cain led the Cardinals with scores of 76 and 79 for a total of 155. She finished in third individually.
Sophomore Brittany Kelly wasn't far behind with a 158 (82-76) and a tie for seventh place. Fellow sophomore Rachael Pruett finished with a 161 (85-76) to put her in a tie for 16th.
Coach Katherine Mowat, who usually isn't at a loss for words, couldn't quite find the right thing to say to explain her team's shortcoming.
"Today we were in an ideal setting," she said. "The weather was decent. The course was very playable, and we had an opportunity to come from behind."
The second of the two goals Ball State failed to reach was scoring 300 or below. The Cardinals tallied rounds of 321 and 313.
Mowat said the failure to meet the goal, as well as the failure to finish in first, was because of a lack of consistent and solid play.
"We didn't have the rounds that were just mediocre," Mowat said. "Everyone played at one extreme or the other. Also, Kirsty O'Connor, who has been so solid for us for three years, didn't have a good tournament. It's hard for us to achieve our goals and to win when one of our top players is struggling and not placing."
Even with the struggles of the team as a whole, there was a silver lining. The invitational marked the second-straight tournament that Kelly, Pruett and Cain - three underclassmen - finished in the top 16 individually.
The Cardinals will have a quick turnaround, teeing off Monday in Columbus at the Indiana Invitational.
"I think we operate well with quick turnarounds during the season," Mowat said. "I think it's the perfect amount of time for us to prepare."
The Cardinals' one victory so far this season came after four days rest from the previous tournament. However, this tournament will be a huge step up in competition, Mowat said.
"The next tournament is a whole new atmosphere in terms of the quality of competition," she said. "Not to take anything away from the field we just played in because obviously we got beat, but these are teams that we don't see week in, week out. [It is] a very good, very competitive top-ranked field."
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