ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) -- The 25th-ranked UCF women's golf team is off to Athens, Ga. this weekend. The Knights will take part in the NCAA Athens Regional beginning Monday and running through Wednesday.
Head coach Emily Marron will field a lineup that includes three-time American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Ashley Holder, AAC Freshman of the Year Maria Balcazar and all-conference selection Ayaka Nakayama in the first three positions. Junior Kaeli Jones and senior Johanna Larsson will round out the Knights' lineup. Coming off a victory at The American Championship, UCF will look to maintain its momentum.
"It's kind of like conference, we say the slate gets wiped clean," Marron said. "At Regionals, you never know. There's always a surprise team. I just tell them we keep the goals the same. We're going to go and do our best every day. Everyone's goal there is to advance, so we've got to make sure we're controlling what we can control."
In order to advance, the Knights will need to finish in the top six. UCF enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed. For a senior like Holder, advancing to the NCAA Championsihp round would be a huge accomplishment for this team. The Knights haven't been to the finals since 1996.
"I would love to be able to go on to NCAAs as a team," Holder said. "After winning conference, I think that it definitely will help us with our motivation and everything going into Regionals and playing the best we can to make it into NCAAs."
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