Feb. 24, 2008

USF women's golf is set to compete in its first tournament of the Spring when it travels to Fresno to compete in the 2008 Kitahara Fresno State Invitational, beginning Monday, February 25 at the Copper River Country Club. The 36-hole event will be played on a par 72 course, drawn out on 6,072 yards.

San Francisco enters the event ranked No. 55 in the current Golfweek.com rankings and takes on a solid 16-team field. The teams competing are Boise State, Colorado State, the host Bulldogs, Hawaii, Kansas, Long Beach State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Portland State, Sacramento State, San Diego State, Santa Clara, No. 33 Tulsa, UC Davis, UC Irvine and USF.

Seniors Jessica Potter and Chaneng Joe lead the Dons into battle this week, along with sophomores Danielle Cvitanov, Natasha Podmore and Christina Stockton.

"We are excited to get out and compete," USF head coach Ria Quiazon said. "Everyone has worked very hard during the winter and we continue to improve each day. We look forward to seeing the hard work pay off in our opening event of the Spring."

San Francisco enters the event looking for a strong start to the Spring season and appears to be healthy after dealing with nagging injuries for much of the Fall.

"We are in much better shape and in condition now than we were during the Fall. Natasha is doing great and is fully recovered after wrist surgery. I look for Chaneng and Jessica to make a big impact to kick off their final semesters of collegiate golf. I expect both of them to finish strong," Qiazon said.

Opening round action is set for a 9:30 AM start on Monday with tee times off of holes one and 10. The second and final round will conclude on Tuesday, Feb. 26 with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. Admission is free to the public.

Live Scoring: The 2008 Kitahara Fresno State Invitational will feature live scoring courtesy of Golfstat. Copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1159