SARASOTA, FLA. (FIUSports.com) – Following first round competition at the 35th Annual FIU Pat Bradley Invitational, held on the Cypress Links course at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, the host Panthers find themselves leading the field of 14 schools with an eight-over (296) team score on the day.

Cincinnati trails defending champion FIU by one stroke closing the day at nine-over (297). The Bearcats were led by Olivia Dose who is on top of the leaderboard scoring a three-under (69) in the first round.

FIU freshman Sophie Godley (Nottinghamshire, U.K.), who started at the No. 5 position, led the Panthers on day one coming into the clubhouse at one-under (72) to pace second among the 75 golfers competing. Godley and Dose were the only two players to go under par in the first round. Dose' 69 ties for the ninth-best opening round score in the 35 years of the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational

Bradley's Danielle Lemek and Florida Gulf Coast's Georgia Price both finished with even-par 72 to tie for third. Boston College's Cristina McQuiston's 73 (+1) rounds out top-five scoring.

FIU's defending tournament medalist, junior Shelby Coyle (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) is presently tied for sixth at two-over (74). Senior Yolecci Jimenez's (Caracas, Venezuela) first-round 75 (+3) tie's for ninth on the leaderboard. In her collegiate debut, Jasmine Wade (Palm Harbor, Fla.), competing as an individual, also placed ninth with her first-round 75 (+3).

Freshman Meghan MacLaren (Cambridge, U.K.), the Sun Belt Conference Women's Golfer of the Month for October, and senior Tania Tare (Auckland, New Zealand) each opened with a 76 (+4) to tie for 16th.  Freshman Carla Jane (Santiago, Chile) rounds out FIU scoring with her first-round 80 to tie for 40th.

Second round action begins at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.  FIU, Cincinnati and Boston College will once again pair up together in the top three slots. Pairings and scores can also be found at Golfstat.com.

First Round Team Leaderboard

1      FIU                                       +8        296
2      Cincinnati                             +9        297
T3    Florida Gulf Coast                +15       303
T3    Boston College                     +15       303
5      Bradley                                +18       306
6      Bethune-Cookman                +23       311
T7    Daytona State                      +24       312
T7    Texas A&M-Corpus Christi     +24       312
T9    Delaware                              +27       315
T9    Jacksonville                         +27       315
11    Western Illinois                     +31       319
12    Drake                                   +39       327
13    Florida Atlantic                     +45       333
14    South Dakota                       +62       350

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.

About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/