PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley women's golf team will open the spring schedule where it concluded the fall slate, traveling to Lakewood Ranch, Fla., for the Mid-American Match Play Challenge Monday and Tuesday.
The Braves tied for 11th at the 36th annual Pat Bradley Invitational to end the fall with sophomore Danielle Lemek (Doniphan, Neb./Doniphan-Trumbull) tying for third for her fifth consecutive top-10 finish.
Bradley is one of eight teams competing at next week's Mid-American Match Play Challenge and will square off with #4 seed Ohio in Monday's opening round. The winner of the match between Bradley and Ohio will face either Northern Illinois or tournament-host Bowling Green Monday afternoon at the par-72 Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club in the semifinals. The other half of the eight-team bracket includes 80th-ranked Toledo, Akron, Western Michigan and Cleveland State.
The Braves will open the spring season in the first week of February for the first time in program history with next week's event marking the earliest spring opener in school history for either the Bradley men's or women's golf squads. The earliest the Bradley women had previously opened the spring was Feb. 11 & 12, 2008 when the Braves traveled to Ensenada, Mexico, for the Baja Invitational.
Lemek owned the top stroke average in the Missouri Valley Conference during the fall at 73.25 and has shot 71 or better in four of her last five rounds. She needs two sub-80 rounds to break into Bradley's career top 10 for rounds in the 70's. Fellow sophomore Allison Walsh (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Mt. Prospect) fired a season-low 73 in the final round of the fall at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club and was second on the squad with a 78.25 average.
Sophomore Jenna Roadley (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Sturgeon Heights) also ended the fall schedule on a high note, carding a career-best 73 to finish the Pat Bradley Invitational. Roadley is second on the team with nine rounds in the 70's and has shot under 80 in six of her last seven rounds.
Junior Katarina Mangieri (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) shot a career-best (78) in the final round of the fall schedule and will join freshman Paige Jordan (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) in the lineup.
The Mid-American Match Play Challenge is the first of two trips to Florida for the Braves, but Bradley will head to Corpus Christi, Texas, next for the Islander Classic Feb. 24 & 25.
