March 10, 2008

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Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll
Senior Sara Brown
Freshman Aimee Neff

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The national recognition continues to pour in for the Michigan State women's golf team, as the Spartans were named Golfweek's Team of the Week and senior Sara Brown was the recipient of the magazine's Player of the Week award. It was announced Monday on the publication's web site.

"Both are great honors," said head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. "It is well-deserving, after the way we played this weekend. We had worked hard all spring break while in Texas and it was a perfect way for the week to end. The award is another feather in Sara's hat. She has prepared so much and has been working very hard. She is now moving much closer to her ultimate goal of becoming an All-American."

The Spartans are coming off a weekend where they won their second-consecutive tournament title, winning the "Mo"Morial Tournament, hosted by Texas A&M at the Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas. MSU paced the field of 15 schools, nine of which are among the top 50 of the Golfweek/Sagarin team rankings, by nine strokes with a 67-over par 931 over the tournament's 36 holes.

Michigan State has now won three tournaments this season, the most since the 2001-02 team also won three, and has five top-three team finishes in seven season outings. MSU was named to the Golfweek team of the week honor roll after its win at the Central District Invitational on Feb. 18-19.

The Spartans entered the weekend ranked nationally in all three of the prominent college golf polls. In the first Golf World/NGCA Division I Coaches' Poll of the spring season, released last Wednesday, MSU moved up to No. 22, after ending the fall at No. 24. MSU also improved to No. 20 in the Golfweek/Sagarin team rankings and sit at No. 27 in the Golfstat head-to-head standings, released early last week.

Brown, who began the tournament ranked No. 42 in the Golfweek/Sagarin individual ranking, garners weekly recognition by Golfweek for the second time this season and for the third time in her career. The Tucson, Ariz. native won an individual title for the second-straight tournament by a large margin. Her five-over 221 (78-70-73) total was eight strokes ahead of the field which included 13 of the top-100 collegiate golfers in the country.

Brown began the "Mo"Morial with a six-over 78, which included no birdies, an atypical round for her standards. Her round placed her in a tie for ninth, five shots off the lead after 18 holes. She responded by firing a two-under 70, the second-best round of the weekend to freshman Aimee Neff's final round 69, to vault her up the leaderboard and move her into first by two strokes. As most of her competitors continued to struggle with the difficult conditions, Brown closed out the weekend with a final round, one-over 73, to pull away from the field. After going the first 18 holes without a birdie, Brown closed the final 18 holes with seven birdies and shot two-under during that span.

Brown has been the top Spartan finisher in each of the three tournaments this spring. She posted a victory at the Central District Invitational on Feb. 18-19 in her last outing, winning by seven strokes with a four-under par 212 (70-70-72). The total was the second best 54-hole score in Michigan State women's golf history and earned her Golfweek, Golfworld and Big Ten Player of the Week honors.

Michigan State looks for three-straight titles on March 28-30 at the Bryan National Collegiate Tournament in Browns Summit, N.C.