Jane Lee and Katie Brophy both shot 220s for the tournament and the Irish recorded three straight rounds under 300 for the first time ever, but it wasn't enough to win the Shootout at the Legends Monday and Tuesday at the Legends of Indiana Golf Course in Franklin, Ind.
Notre Dame finished fourth with a total score of 890, just one stroke behind third place Missouri. The Irish came into the third round in third place, but a very strong round by Illinois State gave the Redbirds a dramatic come-from-behind victory, two strokes ahead of Kent State, and pushed Notre Dame back to fourth.
Notre Dame won last year's event with three-day score of 901, but was unable to repeat despite improving by 11 strokes this year.
Irish head coach Debby King said she was disappointed by the result.
"It was our team goal to win, even though Kent State and Missouri are ranked ahead of us," King said. "We felt like we could win, and we proved that by being on their butts all day."
Scores were low as a whole in the tournament. Illinois State's victory came with a combined score of 886, with the Golden Flashes just behind at 888. Both teams had astonishingly low third-round scores, with the Redbirds carding a 288 and the Flashes a 287.
"We can't say we lost the tournament, it's more that we won it," King said of the competition.
The Legends course is well known for its forgiving angles and lack of trees.
"It's a very open course, so you can hit it in a lot of different places and still put it on the green," King said. "[Tournaments there are] all about putting."
Lee and Brophy led the Irish with scores of 220. Lee's 70-75-75 was a personal best for three rounds.
Lisa Maunu, Lauren Gebauer and Noriko Nagazaki also competed for the Irish.
Indiana senior Katie Carlson provided the highlight of the tournament when she became the first Hoosier women's golfer to sink a hole-in-one. The Hoosiers finished tied for 11th.
The field of 18 teams consisted of Ball State, Campbell, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Rutgers, St. John's, Southern Illinois and Toledo, in addition to the Irish, Redbirds, Tigers and Flashes.
The Irish will next be in action Oct. 17 in the Lady Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
