WASHINGTON – The Georgetown University women's golf team will open its 2018-19 season on Sunday as it takes part in the 15th annual Cougar Classic, hosted by the College of Charleston. The three-day, three-round tournament will be played at the par 72, 6,261-yard Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan, South Carolina.
The 19-team field will begin teeing off at 8:30 a.m. on both Sunday and Monday mornings. Tuesday's final round be a 9 a.m. shotgun start. A link to live scoring will be available at GUHoyas.com.
The two-time defending BIG EAST Champion Hoyas will be part of a very strong field that includes eight teams ranked inside the top 25 at the end of last season and 11 teams that participated in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The Blue & Gray will be going up against Arkansas, Baylor, Boston College, Charleston Southern, College of Charleston, Florida, Florida State, Furman, Indiana, LSU, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, Penn State, Tennessee, UCF, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
Additionally, the tournament field includes the reigning NCAA Individual Champion, Jennifer Kupcho from Wake Forest, as well as Arkansas' Maria Fassi, who earned the 2018 Annika Award, denoting the NCAA Women's Player of the Year.
The Hoyas return four of the five members of its lineup that won the 2018 BIG EAST Championship, the program's second straight, and competed in the NCAA Austin Regional. Georgetown Head Coach
Kate Schanuel, entering her second year on the Hilltop, will send out a lineup consisting of seniors
Christina Parsells (Bernardsville, N.J. / Kent Place),
Pendleton Bogache (Myrtle Beach, S.C. / Episcopal [Va.]),
Alexa Popowitz (Boca Raton, Fla. / St. Andrew's), junior
Ashley Fitzgibbons (Sammamish, Wash. / Eastlake Senior) and sophomore
Elizabeth Nguyen (Pinehurst, N.C. / Pinecrest).
Parsells is GU's leading returner after recording a 76.36 stroke average last year, recording four top-10 finishes. She was named to the All-BIG EAST Team after tying for second at the BIG EAST Championship, holding the individual lead entering the final round.
Bogache averaged 78.22 strokes per round last year, playing in 27 rounds as a junior. She placed in the top 10 in three events, including tying for ninth at the BIG EAST Championship.
Popowitz joins Parsells as the only two returners to have played in all 33 rounds last season, averaging 76.94 strokes. She recorded three top-10 finishes, including taking home medalist honors at the Rutgers Invitational.
Fitzgibbons registered a 78.50 stroke average in 30 rounds as a sophomore. She placed among the top 10 in three events, tying with Bogache for ninth at the BIG EAST Championship.
This will be the first collegiate tournament for Nguyen, who did not crack the lineup as a freshman.
Following the Cougar Classic, the Hoyas will next be in action the weekend of Sept. 22-23 for the Nittany Lion Invitational, hosted by Penn State, in State College, Pennsylvania.
