Emily Montagnino, Emilie Bjorge in Top-10 as UT Women's Golf Surges at SSC Championships

DADE CITY, Fla. - The University of Tampa women's golf team rose in the standings each of the second and third days, finishing third overall at the 2023 Sunshine State Conference Championships.

Lynn University shot 300 (+12) in round three to capture the 2023 SSC Women's Golf Championship. The Fighting Knights led from start to finish, posting the lowest score in each round of the tournament. Their three-round total of 876 (+12) broke their own SSC record at Lake Jovita by eight strokes. The score was the lowest ever posted by a team at the SSC tournament regardless of course. The victory marks the fourth SSC championship for Lynn and their third since 2019.

UT was led by senior Emily Montagnino, who shot rounds of 76, 72 and 76, finished seventh overall with a three-round score of 224. Ranked No. 51 in the nation, Montagnino came in at +8 as her second-round 72 marked the top individual round for a Spartans player.

Teammate Emilie Bjorge also played to a top-10 finish, coming in at 225, or +9. Bjorge carded respective rounds of 75, 77 and 73, registering the low UT round on Tuesday.

Ana Maria Jimenez Rios, the highest-ranked Spartan player at No. 22 inn the nation, had a three-round score of 226 to finish 11th overall. Also representing Tampa were Ella Mason (22nd, 230) and Laila Forstmane (32nd, 234). The latter is ranked at No. 30 in the nation.

OVerall, the 2023 SSC Championships featured a total of eight nationally-ranked teams among the 10-team field. Ranked No. 10 in the nation, Tampa placed behind No. 1 Lynn and No. 9 Rollins. The Spartans outplayed No. 3 Nova Southeatsern, No. 18 Barry, No. 19 Florida Southern, No. 26 Eckerd and No. 32 St. Leo.

Rollins College finished second for the second consecutive year. The Tars were the only team other than the Fighting Knights to finish with two rounds below 300 at the tournament.

Individually, Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg took home the title after posting a three-round score of 213 (-3). She is the seventh Shark to win the individual crown, and the first to do so since Michelle Ruiz in 2018. Gronborg's 213 is the second-best Lake Jovita score at the SSC championships. She was one stroke away from tying the record set by the University of Tampa's Kiira Riihijarvi in 2019.

Katharina Hesse of Rollins College climbed the leaderboard in round three, shooting a 70 (-2) in the round. Her performance was enough to move her into a tie with Lynn's Camila Madariaga who shot 74 (+2) over the final 18. The final two spots in the top five belonged to Sara Ericsson (217, +1) and Maria Hoyos (220, +4), both of Lynn.

Tampa will next compete at the NCAA South Super Regional, which is scheduled for May 7-10 at Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Ga. Please visit TampaSpartans.com, or follow @TampaSpartans for complete information on Tampa women's golf.