Rain and cold weather didn’t hinder the Kent State women’s golf team as the Flashes finished second in the William K. Warren Invite yesterday.

The No. 30 Flashes carded 46-over par, which was five strokes behind tournament host Notre Dame, who finished 41-over par. Ohio State finished in third place with a score of 57-over par.

“(Notre Dame) is a very good team, they play with a lot of confidence,” Kent State coach Mike Morrow said. “You play a good team on their home course and that definitely gives them a little bit more of an advantage.”

Louisville senior Sara Maude-Juneau won the tournament with a score of one-under par. She totaled eight birdies in the invitational.

Senior Martina Gavier led the Flashes with a team-high fourth place finish in the tournament after carding five-over par.

“My putting was the best part of my game this week,” Gavier said. “It’s all about how you do on the greens.”

Gavier sunk eight birdies in the 54-hole tournament, including back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th holes in the third round.

Junior Mercedes Germino turned in a 10-over par performance to finish second best on the team. She made six birdies in the tournament, three of which came in the second round.

On Saturday, the total team scores were close, with nine strokes separating the Flashes from Notre Dame.

Germino led the Flashes on day one with a score of four-over par. The score had Germino tied for fifth place going into the last round.

Kent State saved its best performance of the tournament for the last round.

“(Sunday) we played noticeably better,” Morrow said. “I think we stepped up our games quite a bit across the board in the final round.”

Gavier finished one-under par in the third round, which was the third-best round for any golfer in the tournament yesterday.

Kent State junior Shamira Marshall finished tied for 17th place overall with a score of 15-over par.

“I thought I played OK,” Marshall said. “I did better than the first tournament at Michigan State. It was nice to play a little better in the last round.”

Marshall turned in her best round yesterday, finishing with a two-over par in round three after tallying three birdies.

Morrow said despite his team finishing in second place, the team needs to work on golf course management.

“We have to play the golf courses a little bit better,” he said. “Just take what the course gives you and utilize what the course gives you. We aren’t doing that all the time.”

The Flashes next tournament is the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Knoxville, Tenn.

“We should be getting into our stride with two tournaments back to back,” Morrow said. “We had a real good tournament there last year. We’re looking to improve upon that.”

Contact Brad Tansey at [email protected].