Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina women's golf opens the spring portion of its 2023-24 schedule this week as the Catamounts travel to Charleston, S.C., for the Oyster Shuck Match Play event. The three-round, 54-hole head-to-head tournament will be played Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 12-13, at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course, hosted by The Citadel.
 
Eight teams will contend for the match-play tournament championship this week. In addition to the Catamounts and event-host The Citadel, the field also includes fellow Southern Conference members Samford and Wofford. Rounding out the field are golfers from Appalachian State, Purdue Ft. Wayne, Radford, and Tennessee Tech. The Catamounts (No. 152) enter the week as the second-highest-ranked team in the Oyster Shuck field according to the latest NCAA women's rankings through Clippd. At No. 135, Samford is the highest-ranked team slated for competition at the tournament.
 
Western Carolina opens play on Monday against Tennessee Tech in a first-round match. WCU's second-round opponent will be determined by the result of Monday's opening round as the Catamounts will either face Radford or Appalachian State in the winner's or consolation bracket play slated for Monday afternoon. Play concludes on Tuesday to determine the final standings of the eight-team event.
 
"Match play is such a fun way to get the spring season started after a long winter break from competition. We always enjoy this event, and this year should be no different," said WCU head coach Courtney Gunter. "Half of the field is made up of SoCon teams, so we are used to seeing these players. We should be able to have some very friendly, but still highly competitive, matches this week. Plus, the post-round oyster shuck is a highlight of the event and makes this one so unique."
 
Five of WCU's six rostered golfers will compete over the next two days. Leading the squad is fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd who is flanked by redshirt junior Kayleigh Baker and juniors Elizabeth Lohbauer and Kaitlyn Wingnean. Second-year striker, Australian-born Brie Mapanao, rounds out the Catamount side for the spring opener.
 
Four of WCU's five in the lineup this year – Baker, Ladd, Lohbauer, and Mapanao – competed in last year's Oyster Shuck event as the Catamounts finished as the runner-up to James Madison.
Three of those four – Baker, Ladd, and Lohbauer – as well as Wingnean were in the lineup as WCU won the event back in 2022.
 
Through four events in the fall semester, the Catamounts recorded four Top 10 finishes including a trio of top five showings with a season-best runner-up finish at the Jupiter Women's Invitational back in early October. The Catamounts opened the season with the squad's first-ever international competition with a fourth-place finish at the Pan Pacific Collegiate Golf Super League in Japan.
 
Four of WCU's five golfers rank among the top 21 in the latest SoCon women's golf standings, paced by Mapanao who closed her fall semester by collecting SoCon Women's Golfer of the Week plaudits after claiming her first collegiate individual medalist honors at the Wofford's Terrier Intercollegiate. It was the second weekly award earned by the reigning SoCon Women's Golf Freshman of the Year.
 
Mapanao enters the spring with a team-best 72.17 stroke average through 12 rounds, fifth among the conference's leaders. Lohbauer ranks 17th entering the start of the semester's competitions with a scoring average of 74.75, followed by Baker (20th, 75.42) Ladd (21st, 75.50).
 
Western Carolina women's golf is scheduled for six events in the spring semester, opening with this week's match-play event. The Catamounts close the month at the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational, hosted by SoCon-foe Mercer Feb. 23-25. WCU plays its second event outside of the contiguous 48 states when the squad travels to Humacao, Puerto Rico, for the Puerto Rico Classic, hosted by Ball State March 5-7.
 
After NC A&T's Aggie Invitational was canceled in the fall, Gunter and the Catamounts added the Low Country Invitational, hosted by Wofford at the Moss Creek South Course on Hilton Head Island, S.C., which is also the site of the SoCon Championship in mid-April. WCU's final tune-up ahead of the conference championship is the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, hosted by Appalachian State at the Mimosa Hills Country Club in Morganton, N.C., April 1-2. The Catamounts came home with the championship hardware in last year's penultimate event.
 
The Catamounts then look to build on last year's third-place showing at the SoCon Women's Golf Championship, returning to Moss Creek April 14-16.
 
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).

Quarterfinal Round - Western Carolina vs. Tennessee Tech: