Cats Edged by Northern Arizona on First Day of Mountain Classic Match Play
2/12/2024 7:19:00 PM | Women's Golf
First action of the spring comes down to the final hole, but Lumberjacks advance with 3-0-2 win to send Bobcats to consolation match on Tuesday
PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Montana State women's golf opened up their spring season with a narrow loss in match play to Northern Arizona on Monday, falling 3-0-2 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Classic Match Play tournament held at The Classic Club in Palm Desert, California.
The Bobcats got individual wins from Eva Heinz and Maddie Montoya, but the Lumberjacks closed the gap over the final holes to edge out the win.
Full scores from the first day of action can be found here.
Montana State will face Seattle U on Tuesday in a consolation match, while Northern Arizona moves on to face Wyoming in the semifinals.
The Cats will tee off at 11:21 a.m. PT/12:21 p.m. MT on Tuesday. Live scoring for the entirety of the three-day tournament is available here.
Montana State had finished behind Northern Arizona in both prior meetings in the fall, placing third while NAU took second at the Big Sky '54 for IX' Tournament in September and again coming in behind them at The Clash at Boulder Creek in October. For most of Monday, however, the Cats held the advantage, as Montoya, Heinz, and Scarlet Weidig clung to early leads and Hannah Boraas stayed even with her opponent.
Heinz, a freshman from Goodyear, Arizona, was dominant throughout the day, never trailing and securing a win in emphatic fashion with a 114-foot eagle to go five-up with three holes to play.
Montoya, a sophomore from Boise, Idaho, tallied the two-up win on the final hole, hanging on after leading by as many as three on the back-nine.
One-down going into the 18th, Scarlet Weidig made a valiant effort to try to get the win for the Cats, picking up a birdie—but the veteran was matched by Northern Arizona's Amy Hodgkins, who also birdied to stay one-up.
Hannah Boraas stayed within striking distance for the entire day, with her individual match also coming down to the final hole. The freshman carded a par on the 18th but was matched by Ellena Slater, who secured the nail-biting win for the Lumberjacks with a par as well.
"I'm proud of Maddie and Eva for getting the wins, and Hannah and Scarlet taking their players to hole 18 was playing hard," head coach Brittany Basye said. "We need to keep the momentum going and not let it fall off. It'll be a new day playing Seattle U tomorrow and we need to go out and play with determination and be disciplined to keep focused. There's lots of golf left, we need to keep competing! We get to come back tomorrow and compete again. This is a great tournament."
Seattle U will be a familiar opponent for Montana State on Tuesday—the Cats competed against the Redhawks at both the Timpanogos Collegiate Invitational in the season opener and again during the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invite in early October.
UP NEXT
Montana State will face Seattle U in a consolation match on Tuesday.
The Cats will tee off at 11:21 a.m. PT/12:21 a.m. PT. Live scoring is available here.
The winner of Tuesday's consolation match will face the winner of the Portland State/North Dakota State match on Wednesday in the 5th-place match to wrap up the tournament, while the loser on Tuesday will face that match's loser in the 7th-place match on Wednesday.
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