March 22, 2008

Athens, Ga. - Seminole freshman Macarena Silva improved her score by four strokes in the second round and helped the Florida State women's golf team improve its standing after two rounds of the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Course. Silva carded a team-leading 77 in the second round and the Seminoles moved into 14th place in the team standings with one round remaining to be played in the event.

Georgia, the host school, moved into the team lead and hold a three stoke lead over Purdue heading into Sunday's final round of play. The Bulldogs are led by thee players in the top 20 of the individual standings including Krystle Caithness who is in third place. Duke's Amanda Blumenhurst and Purdue's Maude-Aimee Leblanc are tied for the individual lead with identical scores of 146 after both golfers shot even-par rounds of 72 over the second set of 18 holes on Saturday.

The course proved difficult for the second consecutive round as Georgia - playing in its home course - finished with a 12-over par team score of 300. The Bulldogs and No. 1 ranked Duke were the only teams to finish with scores of 300 on the day. Only two golfers - Blumenhurst and Leblanc - finished with even par scores.

Silva (Santiago, Chile) improved her score by four strokes in the second round as she finished with a 77. She completed her round with 15 holes at par or better with one birdie and only three holes over par. She was plus two on her first nine and plus three on her second nine. Silva has a two round total of 158.

Caroline Westrup (Ahus, Sweden) also improved her score in the second round - hers by two strokes. She carded a 78 in the second round with two birdies on her first nine and four holes of par on her second nine. Junior Lauren Cousart (Athens, Ga.) improved her score by one stroke with a 79 in the second round as compared to her first round score of 80.

Sunday's final round is a shotgun start that begins at 9:00 a.m.

Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic/Par 72/Second Round FSU Results
University of Georgia Golf Course/Athens, Ga.
14/18.  Florida State      317   316   633
T50.    Caroline Westrup   80    78    158
T50.    Macarena Silva     81    77    158
T56.    Lauren Cousart     80    79    159
T56.    Whitney Brummett   77    82    159
T74.    Whitney Wright     80    82    162

Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic/Par 72/Second Round Team Results
University of Georgia Golf Course/Athens, Ga.
1.   Georgia            602   10.  Wake Forest      621
2.   Purdue             605   11.  Virginia         624
3.   Alabama            609   12.  Texas A&M        630
T4.  Kent State         610   13.  Furman           632
T4.  Arkansas           610   14.  Florida State    633
6.   Louisiana State    613   15.  South Carolina   635
T7.  Auburn             614   16.  Vanderbilt       637
T7.  Duke               614   17.  UCF              638
9.   Tennessee          620   18.  Kentucky         664