UVa Women's Golfers Open Play at NCAA Championships Tuesday

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Franklin, TN – The Virginia women’s golf team will open play at the 2012 NCAA Championships Tuesday at the Vanderbilt Legends Club’s North Course in Franklin, Tenn. The 72-hole tournament runs through Friday and is hosted by Vanderbilt. The Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA Championships for a fifth consecutive season after a placing fourth at the NCAA Central Regional in Columbus, Ohio. Virginia is one of six teams playing in the NCAA Championships for the fifth consecutive season.

Tee Times
The Cavaliers will tee off at 7:30 a.m. CT on Tuesday during the first round. Virginia will start from the No. 1 tee and be paired with Florida and Baylor. Those same teams will begin the second round Wednesday at 11:53 a.m. CT from the No. 10 tee. Tee times for the third and fourth round will be based on team standings. Live scoring for the tournament will be on Golfstat.com.

The Field
The 24 teams that make up the field for this year’s championship include: Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Colorado, Duke, Florida, LSU, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State , Oklahoma, Pepperdine, Purdue, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt and Virginia.

The Virginia Lineup
Player Yr. Stroke Average
Brittany Altomare Jr. 73.59
Elizabeth Brightwell So. 75.97
Lauren Greenlief Sr. 78.04
Briana Mao Fr. 75.10
Portland Rosen So. 76.58

NCAA History
This year’s appearance marks the sixth time in Virginia’s nine-year history the team has advanced to the NCAA Championships. The other appearances came in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Last year Virginia was fourth (1186), the best finish in the program’s history. Sophomore Brittany Altomare was 12th overall at 290. In 2010 Virginia came in 13th (1184) as Altomare placed 15th overall. In 2009 the Cavaliers were eighth (1212) as Calle Nielson placed sixth (294) at Caves Valley. In 2008 the team finished 12th overall (1215), led by Lene Krog’s 28th-place finish (299). In the Cavaliers’ first NCAA appearance, Leah Wigger finished second overall at the event held at the Sun River Resort in Sun River, Ore. She shot 3-over 287 including a 69 during the final round. The Cavaliers were 13th overall.

Elite Company I
This will mark the fifth consecutive season the Cavaliers have advanced to the NCAA Championships. UVa is one of six teams to make a fifth straight appearance at the NCAAs. The other schools are: Alabama, Arizona State, Purdue, UCLA and USC.

Elite Company II
In its last four NCAA Championships appearances (2008-2011) the Cavaliers have finished in the top 13 each year. The only other schools to finish in the top-13 of the NCAA Championships over the same period of time are UCLA, Purdue, USC and Alabama.

Shared Success
A total of nine schools qualified both their men’s and women’s golf teams to the NCAA Championships this year. That group includes: Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Stanford, Texas A&M, Texas, Vi rginia, USC and UCLA

The Polls
Virginia enters the NCAA Championships ranked No. 25 by Golfweek and is outside of the top-25 in the Golfstat and Coaches Polls. Junior Brittany Altomare is ranked No. 42 in the Golfstat individual rankings and is No. 25 in the Golfweek standings.

Previous NCAA Championship/Regional Appearances

2005 – 13th at NCAA Championships;
5th at NCAA East Regional
2006 – 8th (tie) at NCAA East Regional (lost tiebreaker)
2007 – 9th (tie) at NCAA East Regional
2008 – 12th at NCAA Championships;
5th at NCAA East Regional
2009 – 8th at NCAA Championships;
4th at NCAA East Regional
2010 – 13th at NCAA Championships;
5th at NCAA West Regional
2011 – 4th at NCAA Championships;
3rd at NCAA West Regional
2012 – 5th at NCAA Central Regional

NCAA Experience
Virginia enters the NCAA Championships with three players on its roster having previousl y played in the national championship tournament. Junior Brittany Altomare has posted a pair of top-15 finishes the past two seasons. She was 12th in 2011 (290)and 15th in 2010 (289). Senior Lauren Greenlief was in the Cavalier lineup for the 2010 tournament in Wilmington, N.C. She placed 99th (306). Sophomore Portland Rosen finished 102nd (313) last year in Bryan, Texas. Junior Nicole Agnello, who has been in the UVa lineup for the 2010 and 2011 tournaments, is currently sidelined and not competing due to a wrist injury.

All-ACC
This year Virginia junior Brittany Altomare was named to the All-ACC squad for the third time in her career. She is currently third in the conference in stroke average at 73.59. Altomare had five top-10 finishes during the 2011-12 campaign.

Reviewing the Fall Preview
The seventh-ranked Virginia women’s golf team tied for third at the 18-team Mason Rudolph Fall Preview in September. Virginia shot 304-286-294-884 to finish 11 shots behind tournament champion UCLA. Junior All-American Brittany Altomare tied for third overall at 2-under 214, two shots behind Duke’s Lindy Duncan and Alabama’s Jennifer Kirby. Altomare shot 75-70-69-214. Sophomore Portland Rosen was UVa’s next best finisher, placing 22nd at 6-over 222. Sunday. Nicole Agnello was 43rd at 227, Elizabeth Brightwell was 57th at 230 and Lauren Greenlief was 75th at 235.