The Grand Valley State University Women’s golf team claimed fourth place over the weekend at the Big Apple Lady Invitational Oct. 17-18. After Sunday, the Lakers found themselves in third, but after a shaky performance on Monday the Lakers fell to fourth.

GVSU (619) finished behind University of Indianapolis (586), Missouri-St. Louis (608), and only one stroke behind the third-place team, California State-Monterey Bay (618).

“Day two was everything day one wasn’t,” said GVSU coach Rebecca Mailloux. “Day one, we played well. You can’t always repeat that, though.”

GVSU was really a tale of two days. Sunday, the Lakers shot a 304, which landed them in third place, followed by California State-Monterey Bay (310) which was six strokes behind the Lakers.

Monday, however, the Lakers shot 11 strokes more than Sunday (315). California State shot two under what they did on Sunday (308) and took over third place, knocking GVSU to fourth.

Freshman Katie Chipman posted the best scores for the Lakers. She also finished in the top 10 golfers over the two days. Chipman logged just two over par on Sunday (74), but seven over par on Monday (79).

“The second day I just wasn’t hitting the fairways,” Chipman said. “It made it a little harder to get on the greens and to putt.”

Julie Guckian also represented the Lakers well on Sunday (75). She was only one stroke over par with two holes left to play, and then bogeyed the final two to produce a score of three over par to end. She struggled on Monday, however, shooting five more than Sunday (80).

“I was happy with the first day, but I was disappointed in how I played the second day.” Guckian said. “Monday is what I would call a grind. Nothing was going badly, but things just weren’t working out in my favor.”

Guckian finished in the top 15 golfers over the weekend, tied for No.12.

Next best score for the Lakers was Samantha Moss with a consistent 78 on Sunday and a 79 on Monday.

Maria Sol Pose seemed to have the “reverse-Laker effect,” having a rough day on Sunday, and a quality day on Monday. Sol Pose improved on her 81 stroke Sunday with a 77 stroke Monday.

Senior Alex Taylor finished with a 77 on Sunday, and an 86 stroke Monday.

After day one, the Lakers’ spirits were high. They had landed in third with some quality numbers posted with only two golfers shooting over an 80.

After day two, though, the Lakers found themselves disappointed with how play went. This day, GVSU had four golfers shoot over an 80.

The Lakers are looking forward, however. GVSU’s overall goal of the season is to tee off at nationals.

“We putted better in this tournament,” Mailloux said. “We struggled with ball striking, but I think putting went better.”

The last tournament GVSU played was the Bing Beall tournament in Findlay, Ohio, where the Lakers finished in third place.

The next competition the Laker women will take part in will be the Trevecca Women’s Fall Invitational at Old Hickory Country Club in Old Hickory, Tennessee Oct. 24-25.