Nobody on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s golf team could find a five-gallon water bucket.
So the Lady Mocs settled on dousing their coach with water bottles following their Southern Conference tournament championship Tuesday at Moss Creek Club in Hilton Head, S.C.
“That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” said UTC junior Maria Juliana Loza, who organized the dousing with teammate Moa Duf. “It was a real fun thing that we got to do.”
The Lady Mocs began the day two strokes behind the College of Charleston and were down five strokes through nine holes. Yet they claimed their first SoCon championship by beating the Cougars 902-910 with a 13-shot swing over the last nine holes.
“We won it on the back nine,” said Colette Murray, who was named SoCon coach of the year. “That’s why we run, why we work out, and I knew there was nobody better than us. It all came together in the end.”
UTC’s Emma de Groot shot a three-round score of 4-over-par 220 and finished runner-up to medalist Yue Xu of Appalachian State.
The UTC junior was named to the All-SoCon team with Loza, who finished fourth at 8 over. Christine Wolf tied for sixth at 11 over, Duf tied for 14th at 15 over, and Katie Taylor tied for 46th.
“I didn’t sleep a wink the night before because I was so nervous,” Murray said via cell phone. “In the end, the water was cold, but it was a lot of fun with all the hugs and tears and laughs.”
Nobody knew who would be celebrating as the final groups made the turn. But as each Lady Moc came through, Murray gave orders such as de Groot needing to beat her Charleston competitor by three strokes on the back and Loza needing to win by four.
Loza shot 5 over on the front but 3 under on the back to beat Kathy Boehm by seven shots over the last nine holes.
“I got all fired up at the turn and started birdie-birdie,” Loza said. “I played to win.”
She did, and so did the Lady Mocs.
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