Oct. 29, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - In only her third college tournament, true freshman Sofia Joensson fired a final round of two-over par 74 and a career 36-hole score of three-over par 147, to claim her first individual title as a collegiate player.

A native of Moelndal, Sweden, Joensson held off first round leader Laura Cutler (149) of Jacksonville State by two shots and three other players by three shots on the final day of the Troy University Women's Invitational on Tuesday at par 72, 5,919 yard, Arrowhead Country Club.

With the win, the Colonels claimed back-to-back individual wins at the Troy University Women's Invitational. Last year, senior Danielle Dunlop claimed the first individual win by a Colonel since Nicholls started the program back in 2001. Joensson becomes the second player in eight seasons to claim and individual win and the only freshman to stage such an honor.

Other Nicholls golfers included sophomore Elyse Kinley, who fired a seven-over par 79 in the final round to finish tied for 21st with a 158, true freshman Natalie McLane, who finished tied for 32nd with a 161 (80-81), senior Theunette Van der Walt, who shot a 162 (78-84) to finish tied for 35th place and true freshman Brooke Braun, who finished with a 171 (82-89) and tied for 57th place. Senior Emiley Patton finished at the top of the seven players who played as an individual by shooting a two-day total of 164 (83-81) to tie for 41st place.

Jacksonville State, who won the Ohio Valley Conference last season and went on to the NCAA Regionals, finished with a 304 on the day and 607 for the tournament to claim the team title for the second consecutive year.

South Alabama finished second with a 619, while tournament host Troy University (617) round out the top three.

Nicholls, in its final tournament of the fall semester, finished the final round with a 318 for a two-day total of 628 to claim fourth place, while the remaining field of 13 consisted of Houston Baptist (632), Tennessee Tech (634), Eastern Kentucky (636), Louisiana-Monroe (637), Belmont University (644), Lipscomb University (645), Jackson State (648), West Georgia (679) and Alabama State (760).