UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Columbia women's golf team competed at the season-opening Nittany Lion Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at the Penn State Blue Course. The Lions showed promise with four players, including all three first-years, finishing top 30 in the 83-player field. Columbia finished eighth as a team, less than 10 strokes form a top-four position.
 
First-years Emily Luo, Sarah Shao and Christine Chang all made their collegiate debuts. Luo posted Columbia's best finish, tying for 21st with rounds of 74, 75 and 76 for a tournament total of 9-over-par 225. Her first round included three birdies and five bogeys. The native of Danville, California, had just two holes worse than bogey all weekend. Shao tied for 26th at 11-over-par 227 (73-76-78). Her opening round 73 was the lowest round by a Lion during the tournament.
 
Junior Emma Shen matched Shao for the weekend at 11-over par. She had her steadiest round on Sunday, carding 14 pars, three bogeys and a birdie at the par-4 11th for a 2-over 74. One shot behind Shen was another Lion making her collegiate debut, Christine Chang, who tied for 30th at 12-over par (78-75-75—228). Chang carded three birdies during her second-round 75.
 
Columbia finished eighth out of 14 in the team competition at 40-over-par (298-303-303—904), ahead of Seton Hall (+46), Youngstown State (+48), Akron (+61), Central Michigan (+68), Richmond (+69) and Towson (+73). Their opening team round of 10-over 298 tied for the fifth-best in the field.
 
The Lions compete again this coming weekend, September 20-22, at the Lady Paladin Invitational. The event will be held at the Furman University Golf Course in Greenville, South Carolina.
 
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