The Stetson women's golf team battled through the cold and wind whipping through the Quarry Course at Black Diamond Ranch in Lacanto on Monday to finish sixth in the 11-team field at the Florida Challenge.
 
The Hatters finished ahead of three other ASUN Conference teams in the single-day tournament, just one shot behind the 79^th ranked FIU team.
 
The Florida Gators, who came into the tournament ranked eighth in the nation, bounced back from an opening round 301 to blister the course with a seven-under par 281 in the afternoon to pull away from second place Florida State for the team title.
 
Florida finished at six-over par 582 for the day with FSU (594) 12 shots back followed by Miami (602), UCF (605) and FIU (631).
 
The Hatters opened the day with a 312 in the first round, but then closed with a 320 to finish at 632, four shots ahead of Florida Gulf Coast (636). Seminole State (639) finished eighth followed by host South Florida (641), North Florida (643) and Jacksonville (644).
 
"We know there is room for improvement, but this was a good way to kick off our spring season," Hatters interim head coach Danielle Shelburne said. "Black Diamond will be the toughest course, and this will be the toughest field, we will see this spring. It was a great test for our team to see where we stand and what we need to improve on."
 
To illustrate how difficult playing conditions were during the day, 19 of the 70 players in the field failed to break 80 in either round and of the 140 rounds played on the day, 63 were at 80 or more.
 
Stetson senior Giulia Vandenberg was one of the few players who was able to keep her scores down in both rounds. She posted scores of 77 and 78 to tie for 24^th overall. She had the best finish of any player whose team finished outside the time five in the field.
 
The Gators took four of the top five spots on the leaderboard. Teammates Carlotta Ricolfi, Marta Perez SanMartin and Maria Torres tied for medalist honors, each with a one-over par score of 145. San Martin's second round 68 was the low round of the tournament, with Ricolfi and Torres both posting 69s in the second round.
 
Those were the only scores under 70 on the day.
 
Junior Carolin Schart's opening round 75 was the best score of the day for the Hatters. She followed up with an 83 to finish tied for 30^th. Junior Paige Kemp found her stride late in the first round, closing with a pair of birdies over the last four holes. She posted a 77 in the second round to go with her opening 83 to tie for 34^th.
 
Junior Eilidh Watson opened with a 78 and had an 83 in the afternoon to finish tied for 46^th. Freshman Erikah Neger finished the day with rounds of 85 and 82 to tie for 57^th.
 
The Hatters will now have almost a month to work on their game before jumping into the meat of the spring schedule. The next event on the docket is the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate, Feb. 26-28. That event is known nationally as the largest collegiate tournament each year with more than 40 teams competing on two courses over three days.
 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.