Results
PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - It was an unusual start to the 2024-25 women's golf season as the Eagles competed in a rare match play event on Monday titled The Match at Marsh hosted by Jacksonville. Embry-Riddle fell to Stetson 5-0 in the opening round but defeated Bethune-Cookman 4-1 in the consolation bracket to advance to the fifth-place match on Tuesday. The field includes fellow Sunshine State Conference members No. 7 Nova Southeastern and Palm Beach Atlantic as well as NCAA I members Jacksonville, North Alabama, Stetson and Bethune-Cookman along with last year's NJCAA runner-up Seminole State. Play is being held at the par-72 Marsh Landing Country Club.
"Our matches were really close," said Head Coach
Maria Lopez. "A lot closer than the score seems. I'm super proud of our effort. We look strong. Jasmine, Savannah and Alex went really far in their matches. Loa and Eden battled like warriors. This format is a completely different experience for us, and they are doing great with it."
ROUND 1 | Stetson - 5, Embry-Riddle - 0
It was a tough start for the Eagles as Alexandra Drum, Eden Tsouklaris, and Savannah Hawthorne each fell behind after the first hole. Loa Johannsson grabbed the lead in the No. 2 pairing after the first hole thanks to a par. But from there, Stetson's Elizabeth Eberle went up by as many as six holes to end the match after 13 holes and give the Hatters' their first point.
Tsouklaris did well to respond to the early deficit at the No. 4 spot with a par on hole No. 2 to level the score, but the Hatters' Filippa Jansson later worked the gap up to three. The sophomore birdied the par-3, 170-yard eighth hole to get within two, but the battle went in Stetson's favor as it concluded at the end of the 15th hole for another tally.
Pairing No. 1 saw Jasmine Yang win more holes than any other Eagle (4). A below-par score on the same eighth hole that Tsouklaris birdied was the first of two consecutive victories for the Merrill, Wisconsin native, who then trailed by just one hole. Both Yang and Isaki Sakashita claimed one of the next two holes and proceeded to tie the next two. Stetson then claimed holes 14 and 16 to go up by three holes and earn the match-clinching third point.
In the No. 3 pairing, Hawthorne also erased the deficit early on by claiming the third hole. She did well to stay within striking distance of Alisa Brannock by matching the Hatter stroke-for-stroke from the sixth to the 13th holes. However, Hawthorne just ran out of opportunities as Stetson claimed a fourth point at the end of the 17th hole.
Freshman Alexandra Drum, in her first collegiate competition, came the closest to earning an overall point for the Blue and Gold in the No. 5 pairing. Despite falling behind by three after eight holes, Drum matched or bested Stetson's Grace Smith in each of the following nine holes. Down two with as many holes to play, Drum came up clutch with a birdie on the par-5 17th to earn an opportunity to level the score at the 18th hole. Unfortunately, Smith came in under par for the fifth and final point, which sent ERAU to the consolation bracket.
Next up was a bout with cross-city foe Bethune-Cookman.
ROUND 2 | Embry-Riddle 4, Bethune-Cookman - 1
All pairings started play on the back nine. Hawthorne welcomed the change as she vaulted out to a six-hole lead by claiming each of the first six. The lead ballooned up to nine when Hawthorne secured the Eagles' first team point of the day at the end of the 11th hole up nine.
Drum continued her strong play by winning the first hole. After she and Meeya Marquez traded blows, Drum shot ahead by controlling holes 13 through 15 to win by four for a 2-0 ERAU lead.
Yang was resilient in her round. After falling behind by three through five holes, she captured three of the next five to even the score. However, the Wildcats' Kathryn Robinson took hold of the match by winning four of the ensuing five holes to cut Embry-Riddle's lead in half.
Johannsson also faced an uphill battle. The junior stared down a three-hole deficit after six holes but continued to fight. Johannsson started her comeback by winning five of the next six holes to go up two and later sealed the match-clinching point with victories at holes 15 and 16.
Lastly, Tsouklaris took her match down to the wire with Kamary Leaf. She built up a two-hole lead after the first two holes, but the battle remained close for the rest of the round. Tsouklaris and Leaf went back and fourth on the back nine with the Eagle capturing holes 14 and 16 while the Wildcat took holes 15 and 17, setting up for a decisive 18th hole. On the par five, Tsouklaris parred the hole to earn a fourth point for the Blue and Gold.
The Eagles will face Palm Beach Atlantic on Tuesday in the fifth-place match.
