Edisto Island, S.C. – Western Carolina sophomore transfer Elsa Maren Steinarsdôttir improved upon her best career round as a Catamount on Tuesday, firing a 1-over par 72 in the final round of the Edisto Island Invitational on the way to securing her best career finish, pacing WCU to an eighth-place team finish with a sixth-place tie as play concluded at the par-71, 5,980-yard Plantation Course. Steinarsdôttir posted a three-day total of 219, carding rounds of 73, 74, and her WCU career-best 72.
 
WCU scored its fourth Top 10 finish of the fall semester with the eighth-place showing, turning in the best 54-hole event score of the semester.
 
Opening on the par-4 eighth for a second-consecutive day,  Steinarsdôttir quickly moved to 1-under par for the day with an opening-hole birdie. She carried the 1-under par score five holes deep into her round before a bogey on the par-4 13th relegated her back to even. The Akranes, Iceland, product shot par on her next nine holes before a second bogey on the par-5 fifth left her at 1-over par with two holes to play. Steinarsdôttir capped her round with two more pars, giving her 15 for the day and the 1-over par round of 72.
 
Over the 54-hole tournament, Steinarsdôttir was tied for 10th with 36 combined pars, while tying for the team lead with seven birdies. She finished third overall in par-4 scoring at 4.09 (+3) and was tied for fourth in par-5 scoring at 4.78 (-2).
 
Graduate transfer EC Niebauer climbed a pair of spots into a tie for 32nd at the end of the third round, posting her best score of the event with a 3-over par 74. Niebauer likewise finished with seven birdies in the tournament, carding two additional on Tuesday to counter five bogeys. Senior Sadler Miller slipped two spots in the final standings with a third-round 4-over par 75, matching her teammates with seven combined birdies. Miller was resilient over the last 18 holes, overcoming an early triple-bogey, two bogeys, and one double-bogey that had her at 7-over par with seven holes to play. The Clayton, N.C., closed the fall with birdies on three of her final seven holes to shoot 75.
 
Miller finished as one of just two golfers in the field to chart an eagle. As a squad, the Catamounts finished the event with the sixth-most birdies at 27 and had 132 pars, posting the eighth-best par-3 scoring (3.30).
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five were sophomore Annalee Caveney (238 in 50th overall) and sophomore transfer Emily Rosenschein (272) in 72nd. Caveney charted her fifth birdie of the tournament on the second hole of her final round on Tuesday morning, with Rosenschein closing the event with her best round of the 54-hole tournament.
 
Tournament host College of Charleston pulled away over the final 18 holes to score the nine-stroke team championship over Elon, 871-to-880. The Cougars shot 1-under par on Tuesday to fend off the Phoenix. East Carolina shot the best round of the tournament at 3-under par 281 over the final 18 holes to rally two spots to a third-place finish, while Longwood (908) vaulted five positions to finish fourth, edging out Stetson (909) in fifth.
 
The top-ranked golfer in the field, CofC's Molly Hardwick, shot 5-under par 66 on Tuesday to stretch her lead into an eight-stroke victory over hard-charging Eugenie Varet of Charleston Southern, who finished as the runner-up after a 3-under par 68 final round. No. 124 in the NCAA, Hardwick finished with a three-day tally of 207, eight strokes ahead of Varet (215), who edged third-place Emma Hansen (216) of Elon to complete the podium.
 
With the completion of the Edisto Island Invitational, Western Carolina closes the fall portion of its schedule. The Catamounts return to competitive action in late February, traveling to Greensboro, Ga., for the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational, hosted by SoCon-foe Mercer at the Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
 
8 – Western Carolina – 311 – 306 – 301 = 918 (+66)
T6 – Elsa Maren Steinarsdôttir – 73-74-72 = 219 (+6)
T32 – EC Niebauer – 80-76-74 = 230 (+18)
T36 – Sadler Miller – 78-78-75 = 231 (+18)
50 – Annalee Caveney – 80-78-80 = 238 (+25)
72 – Emily Rosenschein – 97-88-87 = 272 (+59)