DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With the help of a 74 (+2) round by freshman Julie Hovland, the South Alabama women's golf team earned a fourth-place finish at the Xavier Invitational, marking the first time since 2011 the program has had three straight top-five finishes.

The Jaguars shot a 313 during the final round and 930 for the tournament.

TEAM SCORES
1) Daytona State College 295-294-297—826 (+22); 2) Stetson 295-300-297—892; 3) Seminole State 302-305-315—922; 4) South Alabama 313-304-313—930; 5) Xavier 312-312-307—931; 6) Arkansas State 319-312-310—941; 7) Florida Atlantic 319-322-310—951; 8) Savannah State 369-345-343—1,056.
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
1) Jiwon Jeon, DSC, 71-70-74—215 (-1); 2) Carolin Schart, Stetson, 71-73-72—216; 3) Worapitcha Anndit, SS, 76-69-76—221; 4) Kendall Johnson, DSC, 73-78-71—222; T5) Sarah May, Stetson, 70-75-78--223; T5) Tuan-Yu Chiang, SS, 70-76-77—223; T5) Grace St.-Germain, DSC, 74-77-72—223; 8) Erikah Neger, Stetson, 75-78-71—224; 9) Siti Shaari, USA, 76-72-79—227; three tied for tenth at 228.

SOUTH ALABAMA SCORES
9) Siti Shaari, 76-72-79—227 (+11); T18) Julie Hovland, 82-76-74—232; T20) MacKenzie Peyton, 80-76-77—223; 33) Caroline Berge, 80-80-83—243; 34) Lexi Worrell, 77-83-84—244.
 
TEE SHOTS
-Hovland shot 16 holes at or below-par during the final round, including 15 pars. Hovland had 34 pars for the tournament.
-Shaari shot +1 on par-five holes during the final round and -2 for the tournament to lead the field.
-Hovland secured her first top-20 finish, while Shaari finished in the top 10 for the second time and her third consecutive top-20 finish to start her career.
-Peyton birdied three consecutive holes during the final round (2-4).
-Only under-par scores were recorded during the final round, while just one golfer finished the tournament under-par.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Matt Luther
On the tournament and what they learned: "We learned a lot about who we are this week playing a very difficult golf course under difficult conditions. A difficult course will expose weaknesses and that helps me as a coach understand where we need to improve. It's also encouraging to play poorly and beat the only Sun Belt team in the field as well as the tournament host. It also says a lot about the team's potential as we head to the spring."
 
On Julie Hovland's improvement through three tournaments: "I can't say enough about what Julie has done over her first six weeks on campus. In our locker room, we talk about having a growth mindset and working towards getting better every day. Julie is the model of that. She embraces everything I ask her to do and she takes ownership of it for herself and does it her own way. She is going to turn herself into a very special player for us."
 
Up next: The Jaguars conclude the Fall season at the Fred Marx Invitational hosted by Louisiana-Monroe Oct. 16-17.

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