After a layoff of more than a month, the BGSU women’s golf team finally got back to tournament play.

The competition came in bunches, as the ladies played two invites in a six day span.

The first of the tourneys was the Illini Spring Classic hosted by Illinois University. The University of Oregon took home first place honors, with BG finishing in a respectable ninth place. For coach Stephanie Young and her golfers, playing in a tournament again was a welcome change.

“It was great,” Young said. “It was really nice to get back. We had great weather for both tournaments.”

The team then headed south to Delaware, Ohio, for the Toldeo-hosted Rocket Spring Classic. The tourney included a field of 11 teams. Eastern Michigan, who BG will see again in the Mid American Conference Championship, took home the win while the Falcons finished in the middle, at sixth place.

Among two middle of the pack finishes were some very solid individual efforts. At the Illinois tournament, sophomore Jessica McCann put on a career performance ( 75-77-152) and finished in a tie for eighth place. Her play in Urbana earned her MAC Player of the Week honors for this week.

“It is a huge honor to be named MAC Golfer of the Week,” McCann said. “I was nominated last year but I didn’t expect to actually receive the honor as a sophomore. Playing well this week has given me my confidence back and my trust in my swing and overall ability.”

Following McCann’s great showing in Illinois was yet another sophomore, Carley Hrusovsky at the Rocket Invite, where she finished in a tie for tenth place with a 76-78-82-236, the best individual score on the team in Delaware.

“I was content with the tenth place finish,” Hrusovsky said. “I played pretty well in the first two rounds, and I hit the ball great in the third, but my putting wasn’t there. I was pleased overall, and it gives me a lot of hope for what’s to come.”

Young said she was proud of the way both girls have picked it up and she also noticed good things from the whole team.

“Course management was good,” Young said. “It got better as we played. In Illinois we played some very good teams and improved our position. In the Toledo tournament we had some rain very early on but still stayed mentally tough.”

Hrusovsky saw much of the same.

“Everyone played hard and had some good rounds,” Hrusovsky said.

With all the things that went right for the players during both tourneys, there were some parts that hurt the team as far as not only individual scores, but where they ultimately placed in the field.

“We gave away some shots,” Young said. “There were a lot of penalties. Also, some big-score holes killed us.”

Although there is still a good deal of things to work on, Young was happy with the way both tournaments went.

“It was definitely a positive,” Young said. “Two girls finished in the top ten and everyday we achieved goals.”

McCann, who put up the best numbers out of the entire team over the full stretch, also looks back positively.

“I was very impressed with how we handled ourselves on and off the course,” McCann said. “Mentally, I think all of us stayed strong and tried our best to score well.”

With the Illini and Rocket Spring Classics out of the way, BG will turn its focus to the MAC Championship, which starts in just over a week. According to Young, it will be important to build off their recent efforts and keep lower scores going. The players know the importance of putting in a good showing as well.

“We played six days in a row at the Illinois and Rocket tournaments,” Hrusovsky said. “We got a lot of good practice and competition in. It was tiring but I think it gives us some momentum going into the MACs. If we can avoid throwing shots away and put in four good team scores every round, we’ll be right in there as one of the better teams.”

With two respectable, middle-of-the-pack finishes, along with a couple of solid individual efforts, the Falcons will get right back to where they’ve been for the previous month, practice.

1. Illini Spring Classic April 14-15 Host: Illinois University Number of teams : 16 BGSU Finish: 9 Top Individual Finish: Jessica McCann (T-8th) 2. Rocket Spring Classic April 17-18 Host: University of Toledo Number of teams : 11 BGSU Finish: 6 Top Individual Finish: Carley Hrusovsky (T-10th)