The underclassman on coach Stephanie Young’s golf team took the lead this weekend, as the women competed in the Mid-American Conference Preview in Fishers, Ind.

Freshman Susannah Grunden and sophomore Paula DiFrancesco were the Falcon’s top scorers at the preview. Grunden shot a 223 (79-78-76) to tie for 11th place, while DiFrancesco, in her first tournament of the season, tied for 67th with a 252 (79-92-81).

‘We all went out there to put solid scores together,’ DiFrancesco said. ‘We stayed focused and played our game.’

Grunden is still on-pace for the season round average record, improving her average to 77.91 this past weekend.

BG ultimately finished in 14th place in a 16 team field, coming off a 16th place finish the first day of competition. The women say they knew they needed to improve and motivated each other to move up two spots.

‘We did not want to be at the bottom of the scoreboard leaving the tournament,’ Grunden said. ‘We motivated each other and ourselves and didn’t think about the past.’

The Falcons shot an overall 992, good for 59 strokes behind tournament champion Ball State (933). The preview consisted of all nine MAC teams, with the exception of Kent State, as well as eight other schools.

‘I think it’s really good to see the competition that we’re going to see in the spring,’ DiFrancesco said. ‘It was good for me to play in this as my first tournament [this season], and great for us to measure where we’re at and what we need to work on.’

Hannah Lambert tied for 75th place (256), Marisa Glew placed 78th (261) and Lauren Glew came in 81st (263) for the Falcons.

The women will compete again next Monday and Tuesday, October 19th and 20th in the University of Dayton Fall Invitational in Kettering, Ohio.’