The Valparaiso University women’s golf team completed the first year of Jill McCoy’s head coaching tenure on Tuesday with the third and final round of the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf Championship. The event was hosted by Valpo as the 10 conference teams played 54 holes this week at Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton.

How It Happened

• Two Valpo players carded rounds in the 70s on the season’s finale day. Senior Kylie Shoemake (Schererville, Ind. / Lake Central) led the way by closing out her collegiate career with a 78. She finished with a 54-hole score of 245.
• Tiffany Curtis (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) was the other Valpo golfer to go sub-80 on Tuesday, as the junior posted a 79 to close out a tournament in which she turned in all rounds in the 70s. She led the team with a 54-hole score of 234, which tied for 25^th.
• Junior Kayla Krueger (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake) finished the three rounds at 239, second on the team. Her 18-hole score was 80 on Tuesday.
• Valpo finished Tuesday’s round with a team score of 322 for a tournament total of 965. Southern Illinois claimed the team title with a 905, seven strokes better than second-place UNI.
• The tournament concluded in dramatic fashion with Missouri State’s Abby Cavaiani and UNI’s Sydney Eaton going to a playoff for medalist honors and the title of MVC Individual Champion after both needed 220 strokes to get through the 54 holes. Cavaiani edged Eaton on the second playoff hole.

Inside the Round

• Tuesday featured the first playoff for medalist honors in an MVC Women’s Golf Championship since 1996.
• Shoemake’s eagle from Monday stood as the only eagle of the entire tournament by any of the 50 participants.
• Curtis led Valpo with 34 pars while also pacing the team in Par 4 scoring at 4.30 (+9). Valpo’s best performer on Par 5 holes was Shoemake at 5.00 (E).
• Shoemake closed her Valpo tenure with an 83.08 scoring average, which ranks in the Top 10 in program history. She is currently ninth, while Curtis and Krueger both enter their senior seasons in the Top 10 as well. Krueger is fifth at 82.13, while Curtis is eighth at 82.83.
• Krueger finished as the team leader with an 81.53 season scoring average.
• Valpo completed the campaign with a team scoring average of 328.33, which ranks sixth in program history.