SHILOH – Edwardsville's girls golf team played on familiar grounds Wednesday.
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The Tigers used their familiarity of the par-71, 5,133-yard Tamarack Golf Course to their advantage in the IHSA Class 2A O'Fallon Regional, advancing to Monday's Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin Sectional at Panther Creek Golf Club in Springfield with a second-place finish, firing a team 332; host O'Fallon took the team title with a 312, with Belleville East also advancing as a team with a 374 on the day.
The Tigers' Addy Zeller took medalist honors on the day with a 3-over 74. In addition to Zeller's 74, other scoring Tigers on the day were Paige Hamel (12-over 83), Sydney Sahuri (14-over 85) and Jessica Benson (20-over 91).
Collinsville (383), Mascoutah (395), Marion (402), Belleville West (407) and Triad (434) rounded out the field; the Warriors did advance two golfers as individuals to the sectional, Megan Keel with a 14-over 85 and Alexis Schmidtke with a 28-over 99.
“Going into it today, the girls were getting pretty excited,” said Tiger coach Abby Comerford. “We've already played here twice this year, so it was a case of being able to come back and knowing the course; we had a good feeling going into today.
“We didn't bring any freshmen to postseason, so having that experience – Jessica Benson played with us last year, so it was a case of her having experience in postseason as well.”
Finishing among the advancing teams (the top three teams and top 10 individuals on non-qualifying teams moved into the sectional) was a big thing for the Tigers. “Going into regionals, you have to be one of the top three teams (to advance),” Comerford said. “Being one of the top three teams is big. Going into sectionals, we have to be ready to play in order to advance (to the Oct. 13-14 state tournament at Hickory Point Golf Club in Decatur).”
Zeller's medalist finish was a reflection of how she has played as of late, Comerford felt. “She's been playing great lately,” Comerford said. “After the Gary Bair, she was shooting 1-over on Thursday (at Oak Brook in Edwardsville) coming into today; she was ready, she's definitely focused for this postseason.”
Monday's sectional is sure to be a tough test for the Tigers, Comerford believes. “There's more teams,” Comerford said. “Some of the teams we play in sectionals, we haven't seen yet this year; just going into that, some of the girls really haven't seen much of Panther Creek and playing there; just not being familiar is something we'll have to work on.”
The Tigers' eventual goal, like every other team, is to reach the state tournament. “Our goal since the beginning of the year is to make it to state this year,” Comerford said. “It's definitely one of the goals we hope to check off.”
