Notre Dame finished 12th overall this weekend at the Landfall Tradition tournament in Wilmington, North Carolina, against a field of 18 teams that included several ACC programs.
With a final score of 34-over par 898, the Irish finished ahead of ACC rivals North Carolina and Clemson, but behind North Carolina State, which finished eighth overall, and Wake Forest, which finished in a tie for first. Notre Dame head Coach Susan Holt was unsatisfied with the end result, she said.
“We obviously wished we would have played better and finished better,” Holt said. “I felt as a team we hit the ball a lot better than we have probably in any other tournament this year. We seem to all struggle with the putting for whatever reason. So that was disappointing but we did pick up a top-20 win against North Carolina which was good and that should help us a little bit in the rankings. We were able to beat Clemson which was good, an ACC team. So there were some bright spots.”
On day one of the tournament, the Irish shot a 15-over par 303. The results after the first round were closely packed with the Irish in 13th place, but only 10 strokes behind the fourth-place teams of Central Florida and Alabama. Notable performances on the first day were those of Irish senior Jordan Ferreira and sophomore Emma Albrecht, who both shot three-over par 75s.
“Jordan played well again — she’s had a really good fall,” Holt said. “I think she’s by far our most steady and consistent performer, so that was good to see.”
In their second round, the Irish managed to shave 10 strokes off of their first round results to end the day five-over par at 293. After the strong day-two surge, the Irish were sitting at 11th. Contributing to this score improvement were sophomore Isabella DiLisio and freshman Mia Ayer, each of whom shot even-par at 72. It was a four-stroke improvement from day one for DiLisio, and seven for Ayer. Holt praised DiLisio, who finished 52nd overall at the tournament's end.
“I felt Isabella hit the ball really well all weekend,” Holt said. “For her, she’s kind of struggling with the putting right now. She got a new putter over the summer and it's just not been working for her this fall, but ball-striking wise, I thought she did really well which was good to see. I think moving forward into the spring that’s a bright spot for us, for sure.”
On day three, the Irish gave up some ground, finishing with a 14-over par 302 to move down one position to 12th. Ferreira shot her strongest round of the tournament on the final day, a one-over par 3, to finish first for the Irish, ending the competition tied for 33rd over all. This is the third consecutive competition that Ferreira has finished first for the Irish. Her last round included a birdie, two bogeys, and 15 pars.
Notre Dame will not compete again until next semester, when it takes on Florida State in February.
