UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's golf team returns to tournament play for the first time in nearly 11 months when they tee it up at Eagle Creek Golf Club for the UCF Challenge on Sunday morning. The three-day tournament will run through Tuesday afternoon.
Four of the five Nittany Lions competing will have familiarity with Eagle Creek following previous tournaments and training trips during their time at Penn State. The course is a 6,349-yard, Par-72 that goes out in 35 and comes in at 37.
Penn State returns to the course for competition for the first time in 329 days since finishing fourth in the 2020 Lady Gator Invitational on March 8, 2020. The following week the NCAA announced the cancellation of the remainder of the college sports season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Penn State had a strong fall season even without tournament play, the Nittany Lions competed against each other in different styles of play each week to keep the competitive juices flowing.
The Nittany Lions will be paired with Iowa State and the College of Charleston in the first round of play on Sunday and are set to tee off the 10th hole from 8:50 a.m. through 9:30 a.m.
THE FIELD
- A loaded field of 17 teams, four in the top-33 nationally, will make up this year's tournament led by No. 7 Arkansas. Kentucky (No. 17), Mississippi State (No. 24) and Iowa State (No. 33) round out the teams ranked inside the top-40.
- A pair of Big Ten teams join the Nittany Lions in the Sunshine State this week as Michigan State and Purdue will also be making the southern trip.
- The remaining teams in the field consist of Houston, College of Charleston, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Miami, NC State, UNC-Wilmington, Virginia, Wake Forest and the host Knights of UCF.
THE TEAM
- Penn State's lineup remains mostly consistent from the 2019-20 season featuring junior Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) along with sophomores Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and Isha Dhruva (Katy, Tx.) as well as senior Megan McLean (Lebanon, N.J.). Freshman Victoria Tip-Aucha (Vienna, Va.) rounds out the starting-five and will make her collegiate debut.
Live scoring for the tournament is available HERE.