Women's Golf | September 8

NORMAL, Ill.—Led by Alexa Ouellet (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/De La Salle College), the Northern Illinois University Huskies women's golf team took fifth at the Illinois State University Redbird Invitational.  
 
This is the fourth consecutive season the Huskies have taken fifth or better at this tournament.
 
NIU carded 32 birdies in the tournament with Ouellet, Caroline Kent (Frisco, Tex./University Prep) and Mia Raines (Galena, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) all recording a birdie on the sixth hole in round two, a par-five.
 
"Decent start for the first tournament (and I was) happy to see the fight," noted head coach Kim Kester. "The ladies had coming down the stretch today. It's always adjustment your first tournament out of the gate playing 36-18 but the ladies handled it very well. (It was) great to see all ladies playing in the event to see what we need to work on moving forward."
 
Ouellet birdied the same three holes in two different rounds over the weekend, as she carded 10 birdies for NIU. Ouellet shot an even 72 in the first and second rounds, the only Huskie with back-to-back par rounds. The back nine in Ouellet's second round was the only set of nine holes where she was two under par as she finished ninth at the tournament.
 
Raines claimed a top-20 finish for the Huskies and opened her tournament action with a birdie on the first hole. Raines would add an additional two birdies in the first round before having a combined four birdies in the second and third rounds of the tournament.
 
Dakota Tallent (Las Vegas, Nevada/Bishop Gorman) had three bridies over the tournament. Kent became the second Huskie to record an even-par round, shooting a 72 in the second round of the tournament. She tallied five birdies overall, with four of them coming in that impressive second round.
 
Emile Chile (Flower Mound, Tex./Flower Mound) made her debut for the Huskies and was the final Huskie to have all three rounds in the 70s. Chile added a trio of birdies in her debut tournament.
 
Eva Nijenhuis (Heiloo, Netherlands/OSG Willem Blaeu) competed as an individual for NIU and added four birdies, with a pair in the second round.
 
The Huskies return to action on September 29-30 as they compete at the Diane Thomason Invite, hosted by the University of Iowa. Action will take place at the Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City, Iowa.
 
Huskies Scorecard
 
9 | Alexa Ouellet, 72-72-78 = 222
T17 | Mia Raines, 74-76-75 = 225
T23 | Dakota Tallent, 78-75-74 = 227
T30 | Caroline Kent, 77-72-80 = 229
T39 | Emile Chile, 78-77-78 = 232
 
T62 | Eva Nijenhuis (IND), 77-77-85 = 239
 
5 | NIU | 301-295-304 = 900