MIAMI, FLA. (FIUSports.com) – The 2013 Sun Belt Conference Champion FIU women's golf team would conclude its 2012-13 season with its 14th-place finish on Saturday at the 2013 NCAA Division I Women's Golf East Regional, held at the Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala. 

The Panthers finished the 24-team, three-round tournament at 43-over-par on a 907 team score. FIU scored a 14-over (302) on the final day, after scores of 304 and 301 in the first two rounds.

FIU's 14th-place finish was the highest of any unranked school competing in the NCAA East Regional Field. The East Regional featured 17 of 24 schools nationally-ranked in the top 50.  The Panthers finished ahead of the No. 9-seed Notre Dame (26), No. 13 Texas State (38), No. 15 Central Florida (44) and No. 16 Penn State (47).
Including the NCAA Central and West Regional fields, FIU's 43-over was ahead of several Top 50 programs, including: No. 24 Texas A&M (+45), No. 30 LSU (+45), No. 32
Denver (+48), No. 34 Campbell (+55), No. 37 Ohio State (+47), No. 43 UNLV (+47), No. 46 Gonzaga (+58), No. 48 California (+53) and No. 49 Florida State (+57).

The state of Florida had five schools qualified for NCAA Regional competition. FIU had the second-best showing of the five, with only Florida qualifying for the NCAA Championship round (through the Central Region). The Panthers scored lower then FSU, Miami, and UCF.

The Panthers were led by a pair of freshmen, Meghan MacLaren (Cambridge, United Kingdom) and Sophie Godley (Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom), who each tied for 51st at eight-over-par (224). Godley (79-72-73), who was in a tie for 95th after the first day, would move into 63rd place after two rounds. She had the two lowest rounds by an FIU golfer at even par in round two and one-over in round three. MacLaren (75-74-75) began the final round in a tie for 48th.

Senior Tania Tare (Auckland, New Zealand) finished at 16-over (77-78-77-232) and in a tie for 91st. Junior Shelby Coyle (Pembroke Pines, Florida) tied for 100th at 19-over (75-83-77-235). Senior Yolecci Jimenez (Caracas, Venezuela) tied for 103rd at 20-over (77-77-82-236).

Top-seed Alabama (277-277-290-844) dominated the field at 20-under par. The Crimson Tide's score was the lowest of any school competing in all three 24-team regional fields. Duke (-13) was the next lowest, winning the NCAA Central Regional. Alabama was followed in the East Regional by second-place Tulane (283-285-284-852) at 12-under.
The top eight teams from the East Regional now advance to the NCAA Championship, May 21-24, at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga.: Alabama, Tulane, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Northwestern, UCLA and Auburn.

Alabama's Stephanie Meadow (68-66-69-203) was the individual medalist finishing at 13-under. Princeton's Kelly Shon and Tennessee's Erica Popson also advance to the NCAA Championship as the two highest ranking individuals on non-advancing teams.  Popson earned her spot by way of a sudden-death playoff win over UT teammate Chessey Thomas and North Carolina's Jackie Chang.

Team Leaders

1 - Alabama - 277-277-290--844 (-20)
2 - Tulane - 283-285-284--852 (-12)
T3 - Arkansas - 283-294-287--864 (E)
T3 - Oklahoma State - 290-287-287--864 (E)
5 - Texas - 289-291-291--871 (+7)
6 - Northwestern - 292-298-284--874 (+10)
7 - UCLA - 288-298-289--875 (+11)
8 - Auburn - 299-284-294--877 (+13)
9 - Tennessee - 294-292-294--880 (+16)
10 - North Carolina - 290-292-305--887 (+23)
11 - Virginia - 300-298-296--894 (+30)
12 - Kentucky - 301-296-300--897 (+33)
13 - East Carolina - 301-303-301--905 (+41)
14 - FIU - 304-301-302--907 (+43)
T15 - Central Florida - 312-304-292--908 (+44) (15)
T15 - Notre Dame - 292-304-312--908 (+44) (9)
17 - East Tennessee State - 297-302-310--909 (+45)
18 - Mississippi - 299-308-303--910 (+46)
T19 - Penn State - 310-301-300--911 (+47) (16)
T19 - Chattanooga - 309-398-304--911 (+47)
21 - Texas State - 301-307-306--914 (+50) (13)
22 - James Madison - 316-305-310--931 (+67)
23 - Eastern Kentucky - 321-332-322--975 (+111)
24 - Alabama State - 335-332-327--994 (+130)

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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/.