Feb. 13, 2004

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern's women's golf team begins its spring season with a dual meet against Big Ten foe Michigan State in Orlando, Fla. The match will be played at Orange County National Golf Course on the Panther Lake and Crooked Cat courses Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 14-15.

The Wildcats are hoping to build on a fall season highlighted by several strong individual performances and concluded with a solid seventh-place showing in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships. After a long off-season, Northwestern wants to use this dual match to get back into the swing of competitive play.

"This is our first time playing outside since October," says head coach Chris Regenberg. "We will be working on getting our feel back and trusting swing changes that have been made over the winter. I think the dual format gives us a great opportunity to fine-tune before we begin invitational play later this month."

Michigan State is riding a wave of success into their first match of the spring. The Spartans won both the Badger Invitational and their own Mary Fossum Invitational during fall competition.

"Michigan State is a highly competitive team this year," says Regenberg. "Competing against them will be a good measuring stick for us. They are in a similar situation coming off winter break so we certainly feel we are on a level playing field with them."

The match begins Saturday at 8 a.m. with 36 holes of stroke play split between the Panther Lake and Crooked Cat courses. Players will then be seeded for individual match play rounds at 8 a.m. Sunday on Crooked Cat.