Nov. 14, 2011
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By Rebecca Hurley
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The UCF women's golf team has had an exciting fall season. Although short, their performance has been significant. The Knights posted four top 10 finishes, a second place finish at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational and walked away champions of the Lady Northern Invitational, their first tournament win since 2010.
The talent of the newcomers helped land UCF amongst the top 50 ranked women's collegiate teams at No.47 according to Golfweek.com.
Coming Out On Top
Going into the final round of the Lady Northern Invitational, the Knights were trailing 15 shots behind the tournament-leader Ohio State. Freshmen Monifa Sealy (Glencoe, Trinidad and Tobago) and Katie Mitchell's (Fernandina Beach, Fla.) low scores were not going to be enough alone, as it took a team effort on the final day to come back and pass Ohio State and win the tournament title by five strokes ahead of the Buckeyes. Not only did the squad win the invitational, but they beat out five ranked competitors as well. Prior to the spring 2010 season, the Knights had not won a tournament since 2002. This is head coach Courtney Trimble's second tournament win with the team.
Aside from the Knights' victory at the Lady Northern Invite, they also brought home a second-place finish at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational. UCF's performance this fall has helped them to move from No.73 in the rankings where they finished at last season up to No.47.
We Were Only Freshmen
Since the letters of intent for the 2011 class were signed, Trimble knew the incoming freshmen would make an immediate impact for the team. Three of the incoming rookies were ranked as individuals according to Golfweek's rankings. Sealy came in at the top of the class ranked at No. 21, Heather Proctor (Ocala, Fla.) at No.30 and Mitchell at No.101.
Mitchell started out the fall season strong by recording the Knights' first top-20 finish at the Dale McNamara Invitational shooting an 8 over par. She continued to finish in the top-20 for the next two tournaments and was ultimately honored as C-USA Golfer of the Week for her performance. Mitchell went on to be named Bright House Student Athlete of the week and finish second place overall at the Lady Northern Invitational where her performance helped lead the Knights to capture the tournament win.
Sealy started the fall season off a little slower but certainly made up for any lost time by her competitive play at the Alamo Invitational where she tied for second place overall. Sealy held a three day under-par score throughout the tournament and was the first Knight to shoot under par in 2011. Sealy was recognized prior to UCF as one of the top 96 junior golfers, ages 13-19 and earned Junior-All American Honorable mention by the American Junior Golf association.
A Look Ahead
Trimble spoke about the Knights performance this fall saying: "Overall I would say it was a good fall and we have a lot to look forward to for the spring... we had different lineups each week so for us it was a little bit of a transition, but we learned from the tournaments we didn't do well in and had some success in winning a tournament."
The Knights are taking the three-month break to get stronger and practice the aspects of the game they feel like they didn't do well this fall and continue to work towards getting stronger for the rest of the season according to Coach Trimble. A couple of the Knights will be playing in amateur tournaments this winter to prepare for the spring season.
The Knights will be back in action on February12 as they host the UCF Challenge in Sorrento, Fla.