Results
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Paced by a two-over 146 by sophomore
Deanna Tyndall, the Cal State East Bay women's golf team opened the season with a fourth-place finish at the Western Washington Invitational at Bellingham Country Club. The Pioneers finished ahead of seven squads including Chico State, Academy of Art and Cal State Monterey Bay and had three individuals finish in the top half of the 59-player field.
Tyndall carded an even-par 72 in the final round on Tuesday to finish in a tie for first with Cal State Monterey Bay's Courtney Soekland. The victory marked the Canadian's best showing as a Pioneer and her two-round score of 146 is a career low. Tyndall's 72 tied for the second lowest round at the tournament, bested only by Soekland's two-under 70 in the final round.
Not far behind Tyndall was
Linda Brown, who posted a six-over 150 to tie for fifth overall. Brown matched Tyndall on day one, carding a 74 before closing out the tournament with a 76. Brown finished even with Academy of Art's Lyra Yoe to top 53 other competitors.
Andrea Castellanos joined Tyndall and Brown in the top half of the field, carding a 15-over 159 to place 27th overall.
Katie Devine tied for 43rd overall with a 169, while
Arielle Swan-Smith took five strokes off her score in the final round to finish with a 175 and tie for 53rd overall to round out the Pioneer contingent.
The fourth place finish for the Pioneers is their best since capping the 2010-11 season as the runner-up at the Sonoma State Spring Invitational. East Bay posted a team score of 623 (+47), marking its best two-round tournament score in the past two years.
The Pioneers finished 14 strokes behind winners Western Washington and Sonoma State, who both carded team totals of 609 (+33), although neither team had a player post a round below 73. The Vikings had all five players finish in the top 25, while the Seawolves had four in the top 20, including Spencer Heller's tie for third place.
Cal State East Bay will take a two-week break before returning to action on Oct. 24, when it travels to Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club for the Sonoma State Collegiate Invitational.
