BLOOMFIELD, Conn. – The Keene State College women's golf team and 10 fellow clubs battled tough weekend conditions at the Wintonbury Hills Golf Course, where the Owls placed sixth of 11 teams with an abbreviated two-day aggregate score of 587 at the Northeast Women's Golf Conference championship.

Only front nine scores for all participants were recorded on Saturday due to weather, with the event then concluding with the traditional 18-hole round today.

KSC shot a 192 as a team on the front nine Saturday, with Mousley recording pars on No. 2, No. 3, and No. 9 to place eighth individually.  Jasmine Shtufaj also added two pars (on No. 5 and No. 8) as the Owls had three sub-50 scores of the four counted.  The State University of New York at Corland (166) led after day one by three strokes over Suffolk University (169), with Nazareth University (180), Utica University (187), and the State University of New York at Geneseo (189) also sitting between the leaders and the Owls.  The bottom five teams all recorded scores of 204 or worse.

Cortland maintained their lead in day two by the slimmest of margins to upend defending champ Suffolk by two strokes (510-512), buoyed by their four scoring golfers recording a combined five pars and one birdie on the 17th and 18th holes to keep pace with the Rams.

The Owls maintained their sixth-place slot on the second day, shooting a 395 as a team – just one team stroke behind Nazareth and five behind Geneseo, the difference being Geneseo's eight pars and Nazareth's 14 even holes (which helped absorb a 10).  KSC recorded six pars and got a birdie from Shtufaj on the fourth hole, but the Owls had two double bogeys on that hole and took a hit with a 10 on the 14th hole.  Mousley shot a 46 with two pars on the back nine after a 49 on the front.  On the first day, en route to her top ten placement, she had three pars and shot a 43 on the opening nine holes.

Last year at the same event (held in Rexford, N.Y.), KSC finished with a 411 on the first day and a 404 on the second to finish seventh of nine teams with an 815.  Had the Owls maintained their same exact pace on the back nine on Saturday, they would have finished 27 strokes better in the first round and 36 strokes better overall.

"The women really showed determination and fortitude this weekend," said Owls head coach Jeff Timmer.  "They played nine holes in the rain for most of the time Saturday until they were called off due to the weather.  Sunday was sustained 30 mph winds and very cold.  We had an incredible chance to break into the top five of the conference, so I was proud of their fight in the conditions."

The NWGC championship takes place in the spring, as KSC does not have a Little East Conference women's golf league to compete in.

This event was the second of the spring, with KSC winning the Gordon College Shootout last weekend against Albertus Magnus College and the host Fighting Scots with a 413 at the Cold Spring Country Club in Belchertown, Mass..  Albertus shot a 431 and Gordon a 454 to give the Owls a comfortable win, which included three of the top four individual scores.  Mousley won the event with a plus-26 (97), edging Molly Martin of Albertus (98) while Shtufaj recorded a 102 and Mackenzie Hagearty a 103.