The Grand Valley women’s golf team was at home for the 13th Annual Gilda’s Club Laker Fall Invite this past weekend, finishing second overall out of 15 teams.

Hosting the two-day invite at the Meadows Golf Course, the Lakers had a bit of an advantage over their opponents as they prepared themselves to compete on a familiar course for the first time this season. 

“It’s always nice to play at your home course where the girls feel the most comfortable and know the intricacies of the course,” head coach Rebecca Mailloux said.

After 18 holes on the first day of shooting, the Lakers were tied for third with Walsh University (score of 306, +18) as they sat five strokes behind second-place Tiffin University (301, +13) and first-place University of Findlay (297, +9).

Sophomores Paula Badino and Megan Miron led the team after day one as they sat one stroke away from one another; Badino in a three-way tie for sixth (74, +2) and Miron in a three-way tie for ninth-overall (75, +3). 

The remaining sophomore Lakers helped to keep the team within striking distance as Olivia Stoll (eight-way tie for 16th place) and Julia Sanchez (three-way tie for 39th) continued to find their footing with scores of 77 and 80 respectively.

Heading into the second round of the tournament, the Lakers stayed poised to close it out as a top-two finalist with a score of 617 (+41) and all players finishing in the top 20 of 86 golfers.

“It always stings a little to not come out with the win,” Mailloux said. “Finishing only ten shots back of the defending national champions when we didn’t have our A-game is promising for this team.”

Stoll made a fashionable comeback to finish third-overall on the individual leaderboards with a score of 149, five shots over par. Badino continued her excellent play, falling just one place behind where she sat on the first-round leaderboards and ultimately finished seventh overall (152, +8). 

Sanchez and Miron finished in a five-way tie for 20th place as they put up a score of 158, 14 shots over par.

“I was really happy with Olivia’s third-place finish as she has been working real hard lately,” Mailloux said. “The team continues to make a lot of birdies which is nice to see and is a big reason we were in contention.”

Stoll led the team and the individual leaderboards with eight birdies, as Miron and Badino tied at four and Sanchez came away with three total. Badino also tied for eighth place with four total pars in the tournament.

Mailloux also commented on the team’s goals as they move forward into the season.

“Our focus for the past few weeks has been on speed putting and that has definitely improved but we need to spend some time in the coming weeks improving our short game,” Mailloux said. “Specifically, our chipping proximity to the hole. We will also continue to focus on our physical state while in competition and how we can better manage those things during the round.” 

GVSU will travel to Findlay, Ohio to compete in the three-round William Beall Fall Classic that begins Monday, Oct. 3.