Duke still team to beat in ACC, but UNC closes rank

By STEVE WILLIAMS

Nobody’s betting against Duke winning an eighth consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference women’s championship, but the gap between the defending national champs and the rest of the ACC may be closing.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are coming off a strong fall and enter their spring opener listed No. 18 in the country in the Golfweek/Sagarin Index. Duke, meanwhile, entered the fall schedule ranked second and slipped to fifth.

The other two state ACC teams also have reason to believe that they can challenge Duke in the ACC race.

Wake Forest has Nuria Clau back for her senior season and the Deacons enter March ranked 26th nationally. N.C. State is a program on the rise and has earned a No. 34 Golfweek ranking.

North Carolina ended the fall season with a victory in the Pine Needles Invitational while Duke closed its fall slate with a tie for fourth in the Derby Invitational at Auburn.

Duke coach Dan Brooks has four of five starters back from the national championship lineup and freshman Liz Janangelo showed in the fall she is ready to pick up right where the graduated Candy Hannemann left off.

Junior Virada Nirapathporgporn, who missed two of Duke’s fall tournaments, is the defending national champion. Seniors Kristina Engstrom and Maria Garcia-Estrada, junior Leigh Ann Hardin and sophomore Niloufar Aazam-Zangeneh are all tournament tested.

Only once since 1996 has somebody won the ACC individual crown who didn’t play for Duke. Back-to-back champ Jenny Chuasiriporn (1996-97) began the Blue Devil string that was interrupted only by Wake’s Marta Prieto in 1998.

Beth Bauer returned the title to Duke in 1999 and Estrada, Nirapathporgporn and Hannemann took the last three.

North Carolina’s eye-opening fall performances were led by junior Ashley Prange and senior Abby Spector. Prange captured one title and was the Tar Heels’ best finisher in the first four events. Prange is listed 11th by Golfweek, trailing only Nirapathporgporn (eighth) among ACC players.

Spector won the Pine Needles’ tourney with 218, Prange was second at 219 and Meghan Adams was third at 220.

UNC coach Sally Austiin will also be counting on Josie Shinn, a freshman from Pinehurst.

N.C. State, in just its third year of competition under coach Page Marsh, is still a team without a senior. Sophomores Sarah Bonner and Colby Cobb, juniors Briana Vega and Courtney Pomeranz and freshman Erica Wein were the team’s mainstays in the fall. The Wolfpack’s best finish was second in the Pine Needles Invitational, eight shots off the pace of UNC.

Wake Forest came close to winning its final fall appearance, but a final-round 304 dropped the Deacons from first to fourth in the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington.

Clau won the Landfall individual title with 214 for her first collegiate victory. Clau and Maria Beautell are the senior leaders on coach Dianne Dailey’s otherwise young team. Sophomores Christine Hallstrom and Ashley Hoagland and freshman Julie McKenna ended the fall campaign in the starting five.

Duke and Wake Forest got their spring campaigns under way Feb. 28-March 1 in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic and N.C. State begins play in the ‘Mo’morial in Houston March 3-4.

North Carolina opens March 14-16 in the Lady Gamecock in Columbia, S.C., where Duke and Wake will also be part of the field.

All four state ACC teams will be part of the Bryan National Collegiate at Bryan Park March 28-30.

The ACC Tourney will return to Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons April 18-20.

The highest-ranking non-ACC teams in the state are UNC-Wilmington (No. 36) and East Carolina (No. 46).

UNC-W is the defending Big South Conference champ and captured one title during the fall.  In a show of balance, the Seahawks had four different players turn in the best team score in the team’s four fall outings. They were senior Yunuen Sanchez, sophomores Becky Berzonski and Amelie Farrah, and freshman Michelle Jarman. Another freshman, Audrey Gale of Clayton, rounds out the starting five.

Sophomore Adrienne Millican of Fuquay-Varina provided ECU’s fall highlight by winning at Bay Tree.

The Pirates don’t have a senior. The other starters are junior Margaret Mitchell, junior Jessica Krasny, junior Ashley Leonard and freshman Heidi Helliesen. Freshman Jamie Quinn of Sanford may also push for some tee times.

Elsewhere, Western Carolina had a strong fall, giving a preview that the Cats may prowl in the Southern Conference this spring. After finishing sixth of seven teams last spring, the WCU has a fresh look with freshmen Brandy Andersen and Ashley Hovda joining last season’s freshman of the year Line Cordes in the lineup.

Defending SoCon champ Furman lost player of the year

Jennifer Perri but welcomes back standout Brandi Jackson.

UNC-Greensboro was second in the conference last spring and the Spartans still have Jennifer Gleason and Dani Heimbecker as solid senior leaders.

Elon is a year away from joining the Southern Conference fray. This spring the Phoenix will try to improve on last year’s fourth-place Big South Conference finish.

Sophomores Becky Poindexter and Morgan Olds were Elon’s top players in the fall.

The Big South Conference championship is set for April 13-15 at Sea Trail in Sunset Beach while the Southern Conference championship will be played at April 20-22 at Waynesville Country Club.

In Division III, Methodist will be shooting for a sixth straight national championship. The top two players from that team are gone, but Jessie Hunter, Michelle Meadows and Hope Thomas return.