MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – The No. 21-ranked Carleton College women's golf team got off to a solid start at the three-day Golfweek D-III Fall Invitational as the Knights are tied for eighth out of 24 teams. The field includes 18 programs that are nationally ranked by the WGCA and three more squads that are receiving votes in the top-25 poll.
 
"The team played well today," said Carleton head coach Sloan Wallgren. "This is our first time playing in the event, and many of the other teams play here every year and have seen the course many times.
 
"We are looking forward to being the first groups off tomorrow morning and improving on our good performance today."
 
Carleton posted a team score of 309 (+21) and is tied with No. 7 Carnegie Mellon University, No. 8 St. Catherine University, and No. 13 Centre College.
 
No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer leads the field with a score of 286 (-2), followed by No. 3 Emory University at 302 (+14) and No. 5 Washington University in St. Louis at 303 (+15).
 
As a squad, the Knights played the par 5s at a combined 1-over par—third-best in the field—and accumulated 54 pars overall, fifth-best on Day 1.
 
Sophomore Carter Sichol paced the Knights as she tied her season-low round with a 71 (-1). She is tied for second place on the individual leaderboard after an opening round that included four birdies, including the par-4 No. 4, which played as the toughest hole on Saturday.
 
Cynthia Lu and Mindy Zhai carded matching 79s (+7), including back nine birdies, and are tied for 51st place in the 119-player field.
 
Sarah Zheng posted a score of 80 (+8), including a team-high 12 pars. Natalie Tatar finished at 84 (+12). She shook off a slow start and parred seven of the last eight holes to build momentum going into Monday's second round.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will tee off at 7:30 a.m. EDT / 6:30 a.m. CDT for the second round and will play alongside No. 16 New York University, No. 20 Rhodes College and unranked Huntingdon College.