(UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.) April 23, 2006- Coming off a stellar performance in Virginia last week where they won the Lady Duke Invitational, the Penn State women¡¯s golf squad battled tough weather and opponents. The Nittany Lions finished in eighth place at the three-round Lady Buckeye Invitational hosted by Big Ten foe Ohio State University. The tournament was played at the par 72, 6,177-yard course at the Golf Club of Dublin, while the Scarlet Course at OSU was under renovation.

Top Nittany Lion golfers senior co-captain Amber Weinerth (Auburn, N.Y.) and junior Maggie Lester (Oswego, N.Y.) again led the squad. Weinerth shot a first round 76, improving by two strokes in the next two rounds to finish tied at 24th place with a score of 76-74-74-224. Lester shot a one-over-par in the first 18 holes, coming in after three rounds at 73-78-75-226, in 34th place.

Senior Katrin Wolfe (Johnstown, Pa.) carded a team-low round one of 71, tying her career low. She fought hard through the next two rounds, coming in tied at 43rd. (71-77-80-228). Sara Lester (Walnut Creek, Calif.) improved by nine strokes in the second, good for a score of 81-72-77-230 and a tie in 50th place. Junior Evelyn Paik (Toronto, Ontario) played very consistently this weekend, shooting a 75 in the first. Paik finished tied for 60th overall (75-78-82-235).

The team had to deal with a strong wind that picked up on the second day of play but fought well to the end. Penn State finished eighth in the 15-team spread with a total score of 902. Auburn University won the invitational, led by champion Maria Martinez who shot five-below par in the second round. AU finished with 849 points. The University of Florida (876) took second with the Purdue Boilermakers right on their heels in third (877). In fourth place was Kent State (887) who beat out the host Buckeyes by just one stroke (888) to round out the top five squads.

The invitational provided a lot of in-conference competition as the Nittany Lions played against fellow Big Ten schools Northwestern (9th), Illinois (11th), Indiana (13th) and Minnesota (15th), as well as Purdue and host OSU. This weekend gave Penn State an important opportunity since the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by the Indiana Hoosiers, will be held this coming weekend, April 28-29.