With a sixth-place finish against some of the top teams in the nation at their last event, the No. 18 Irish have had a successful fall season, which they will try to continue Sunday and early next week as they travel to San Antonio for the Alamo Invitational.
The Irish had one of their top finishes of the 2009-10 season last year at the Alamo, where then-senior Annie Brophy tied for first place and Notre Dame finished tied for second of 12 teams with a final team round of 292.
In hopes of repeating that result this season, the team has been working on its own weaknesses.
"The team and I have been working on what we thought we needed to work on based on our performance last weekend," senior So-Hyun Park said. "Each of us had different areas to work on so we've been focusing to practice on those areas."
The successful results have continued this fall as the Irish have taken the title in two of their four contests.
Notre Dame defeated 10 teams, including rivals Michigan State and Kent State, at the Michigan State Mary Fossum Invite to commence the season on Sept. 26, and followed up the victory with another over 12 teams hosting the William K. Warren Invite on Oct. 2-3.
Notre Dame placed fifth out of 15 schools at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in Knoxville, Tenn. earlier this month, and most recently performed well at the Landfall Tradition Invite at the Dye Golf Course in Wilmington, N.C. The Irish carded their best round of the tournament on the final day of play on Oct. 24, posting an 8-over round of 296. The total was also the lowest of all 18 teams for the day, and launched the team from their seventh-place spot after Day 2 to sixth after a three-round total of 896. No. 5 UCLA won the tournament with a final score of 880.
Junior Becca Huffer led for Notre Dame with a sixth-place individual finish after a third-round mark of 73, and a 54-hole total of 218. She was one stroke behind the fifthplace finisher from North Carolina. In her first two seasons on the Irish squad, Huffer has become the program's all-time leader in career stroke average with a 75.24 in 63 rounds of play.
The team's two freshmen, Nicole Zhang and Kristina Nhim were also central to Notre Dame's sixth-place finish. Zhang tied for 17th individually, and Nhim tied for 26th. Seniors Park and Katie Conway rounded out the Irish scoring effort with rounds of 75 and 74, respectively, to finish Day 3.
Notre Dame will face 13 teams at the University of Texas at San Antonio event, held at the Briggs Ranch Golf Club. Among the competitors will be No. 13 Tulane, No. 17 Colorado, TCU and Texas A&M.
"I think we have a great chance to win this tournament if we just play like we've been playing so far," Park said. "We've been very consistent throughout the semester so if we can keep posting low scores, we can bring the trophy home."
A practice round will begin on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and the first round will tee off at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
