All season long, the No. 2 women’s golf team has made a notion to send out a message to the rest of the country vying for a national title in May.

After Sunday’s round at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, Mo., that notion became a full-out declaration.

Grand Valley State University shot a school-record 294 in Sunday’s final round as the team destroyed the field by 30 strokes en route to winning the Drury Lady Panther Shootout. The Lakers finished with a team score of 601 (25 over), while Ashland University was a distant second with a 631 (55 over) score.

It was the second consecutive tournament that the Lakers won by 25 strokes or more. GVSU head coach Rebecca Mailloux said that Sunday’s blowout performance was due in part to her players’ willingness to challenge themselves.

“What I told them before they went out (for the second round) was ‘you know what, today’s a good day to test your game and see how much you can challenge yourselves and take some risks out there,’” she said. “I wanted them to challenge themselves by firing at pins they normally don’t fire at and go for par-5’s you might not normally go for. It just showed the confidence they had in themselves and the ability, and it worked out.”

Picking up right where she left off in Florida, sophomore Sarah Hoffman was the individual medalist in her second tournament in a row. She finished at four over par, just one stroke ahead of junior Allie Tyler, who tied for second place at five-over.

Despite her rounds not being as steady as it was two weeks ago, Hoffman, who was recently named GLIAC Golfer of the Week for a second consecutive week, said her confidence has grown immensely since the beginning of the spring.

“Over the winter, I focused on a lot of things I needed to work on individually to fit my game, and I think that’s really paid off this spring,” she said. “I have a lot more confidence, especially in my putts. It’s just more of my mentality and having confidence that I can play with all the girls out there.”

Other notable scorers for GVSU included seniors Caitlin Bennett and Ashley Smith and freshman Ashley Beard. All finished in the top-15.

Tyler said the margin of victory came as no shocker.

“We expect to do that every single tournament, especially up here playing against the same teams in our region and conference,” she said. “We just showed we’re that much better than everyone else. We expect to not just win, but we expect to win by 20 or 30 strokes.”

Mailloux noted the school-record 294 as not just a season goal but also an indicator to other teams vying for the national championship.

“It’s good especially when we’re this close heading into postseason play,” she said. “I’ve always said that the courses up here are set up to be more challenging, so the 294 we had up here was very impressive. Those teams should definitely be looking at it as a threat and know that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

With the GLIAC Championships approaching in two weeks, the Lakers will prepare by playing in the Ashland Invitational this weekend.

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