Getting it together as a team after loss

The women's golf team was just 18 holes away from its second straight tournament victory of the season this past weekend.\nThe Hoosiers held a seven-shot lead over second-place Kent State at the Lady Northern in Iowa City, Iowa, going into final round action on Sunday and after shooting the second-best 36-hole team score in school history with a 589 total, the team ranked No. 11 in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin seemed destined to make it two team wins in a row to start the fall season.\nBut then something strange happened.\n"I think we played really well for two rounds and then played really poor for the first seven holes of the final round," coach Sam Carmichael said. "We were 17 over par as a team on those seven holes."\nLast week's No. 1 ranked individual golfer in the nation, junior Karen Dennison, went from shooting rounds of 72 and 68 to firing a 78 in the final round. The 218 total was still the best of her three-year career, but it could've been a lot better.\n"I had a bad hole here or there. The things that were working well the first day, weren't the second," Dennison said, as she dropped to No. 13 on the Golfweek/Sagarin this week. \n"We all started off really bad on the front nine. We all played well and stayed under par on the back nine, but it was just too late."\nFellow juniors Ambry Bishop and Danah Ford and senior Cara Stuckey also shot their worst round of three with scores of 77 each.\n"We kind of started off playing with the attitude of trying not to lose instead of playing to win," Ford said. "We tried to beat the course and not (Kent State). It just didn't happen."\nBut despite choking to the No. 17 ranked Screaming Eagles, the Hoosiers belief in themselves is not wavering.\n"I don't think it will hurt anyone's confidence," Carmichael said. "We didn't win any tournaments last year, so I think it was a little bit of a learning situation."\nDennison and Ford both agree. \n"It's really encouraging that we've had a chance to even win these first two tournaments," \nDennison said. "Hopefully, we'll still have the confidence next weekend that we can win again."\n"If anything, we learned a lot from this weekend," Ford said. "We know to take it shot for shot."\nFord's performance was the most encouraging of the weekend. She finished tied for sixth individually with a 224 total, her second-straight top 10 finish.\nShe was then followed by Stuckey who finished three strokes and six places behind with a 12th place, 227 total score.\nStuckey was trailed by Bishop, who finished 15th with a 229 total. Bishop had finished second behind Dennison the tournament before, when IU won the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, MI, with a 913 team score.\nThey shot an 898, while tying Penn State for second place at the Lady Northern.\nThe Hoosiers feel that the better individual and team scores are more things to be pleased about, despite the loss.\n"That's the thing about our team. Anyone can jump out and win a tournament or place in the top five or 10," Dennison said.\nCarmichael said he feels mainly positive after the tough defeat.\n"We definitely have four players who can put numbers on the scoreboard," Carmichael said. "I think we were a little tight. Next time, we'll just come out more relaxed, composed, and ready"