GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Western Illinois women's golf team shaved off 17 strokes between their first and second rounds to finish the Green Bay Fall Classic in second place.

The Fighting Leathernecks shot a team score of 337 Monday, Oct. 12, followed by a 321 Tuesday, Oct. 13, to tally 658 total strokes in the tournament. Loyola shot a two-round score of 645 to win the tournament.

"Yesterday we played in rain and sleet and snow. Today was sunny, but it was still pretty chilly at around 40 degrees," said Western Illinois coach Lia Biehl Lukkarinen. "It was definitely adverse conditions. It was kind of an endurance contest and we made a pretty good move today."

Freshman Alexa Arent shot a team-best round of 78 on the final round to finish at 159 to tie for third place individually along with Chicago State's Andrea Rosado. Loyola's Lucy McGovern took second at 158 while the Ramblers' Ann Vrdolyak took medalist honors at 154.

"Alexa has definitely had that potential all along. I think she just had to get used to playing at this level," Biehl Lukkarinen said. "She's from Wisconsin, so she is used to playing in these types of conditions. She's definitely a mudder."

Junior Leatherneck Lindsay Wandrey shot 80-81--161 to tie for fifth place while junior Claire Gursh (87-82) and Jennifer Holt (88-81) both tied for 12th at 169 and junior Tara Peterman took 20th at 89-86--175 to round out Western's team scoring. Playing as individuals, sophomore Samantha Hainline came in 11th with an 85-83--168, sophomore Emily Brink shot 85-85--170 to tie for 14th and junior Elizabeth Fernandes finished 17th at 81-90--171.

The second-place finish helped the Leathernecks finish the fall having finished in the top three at all four of their tournaments. Western took back-to-back third-place finishes at the Chicago State Invitational and the Butler Invitational after winning the Western Illinois Invitational.

"I really cant complain with the results we've had this fall. It's got to be our best fall ever in terms of our finishes," Biehl Lukkarinen said. "Not all of our numbers have been great, but we have been making lots of improvements. We've definitely been making strides in the right direction."

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