Notre Dame fell short of extending its two-tournament winning streak this weekend at the Lady Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind. The Irish finished eighth in the 13-team field with a three-day, 57-over par total of 921. Katie Brophy led the Irish with a 13-over par 229, tying for 18th place in the tournament. The junior co-captain was the low scorer for the team for the sixth time this season. Brophy was still not satisfied with her performance, however."I was disappointed. I couldn't get anything going really," Brophy said. "I had some good shots out there, but I also had some shots that I was not so pumped about." Sophomore Stacey Brown finished two strokes behind Brophy with a 231, while senior Karen Lotta recorded a 233. Noriko Nakazaki followed up her first place finish at last week's Indiana Invitational with a 21-over par 237. Freshmen Jane Lee and Alejandra Diaz-Calderon rounded out the Irish lineup, shooting 239 and 247, respectively. While the team was disappointed with its play, Brophy sees definite reasons for optimism."The thing is we are all really close to breaking through and playing really well, but we are all just underneath our potential," she said.Despite the eighth-place finish, Notre Dame took a major stride forward in its quest for an at-large bid to the NCAA Central Regional Championship. Coming into the tournament, the Irish were ranked 19th in the Central region. The top 18 teams in the region qualify for the championship tournament. Iowa State entered the tournament ranked 18th, but finished one spot behind the Irish in the Lady Boilermaker Invitational. With its performance this weekend, Notre Dame overtook the important 18th spot in the rankings. "We were really excited that we beat Iowa State because that means that we will have a good chance to go to regionals," Brophy said. The Irish will next travel to Columbus, Ohio, for the Lady Buckeye Invita-tional this coming weekend. The tournament will be an important one for the Irish as Michigan State (17th in the Central region) will be in the field. "The next tournament is important because Michigan State is one ranking above us," Brophy said. "If we play well and beat Michigan State then we will for sure go to regionals."Notre Dame realizes, though, that it must turn in a better performance next weekend to accomplish this goal."We just didn't play to the best of our potential [this weekend] and we all know that," Brophy said.
