Ashland University's women's golf team's lucky number at the 2015 NCAA Division II East Super Regional would have to be "3."
The Eagles are the No. 3 seed at the super regional, May 3-5 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, Illinois. The top three teams and top three individuals not with a team from each super regional will advance to the 2015 NCAA Division II Championships, May 13-16 at The Meadows Golf Course in Allendale, Mich.
And AU placed third at the 2015 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, marking the fourth time in the last five tournaments it finished third (in the other tourney, the Eagles were second).
"Our expectations are that we are going to play our very best," said Ashland head coach Kory Oslie, "and after the final round, hopefully our best is good enough to advance to the national championship."
The Eagles are paced by junior Ali Green, an All-GLIAC first-team selection who was tied for ninth at the conference tournament, and sophomore Kaitlin Neumann, an All-GLIAC second-teamer who was tied for seventh last weekend.
Seniors Abby Tepe (tied for 11th) and Madison Musick (tied for 16th) both earned All-GLIAC second-team laurels. Sophomore Emily Jereb was tied for 22nd at the conference tourney.
"As far as our team, we need everyone to step up and play great golf," said Oslie. "Every one of our players are capable of shooting around par, and we need to play at or above our average every day.
"Our ultimate goal is to advance, but winning regionals would give us a great deal of confidence moving into nationals."
GLIAC rival Grand Valley State is the top seed in the super regional, followed by Indianapolis. Rounding out the nine-team field are Missouri-St. Louis (No. 4), Findlay (No. 5), Southern Indiana (No. 6), Drury (No. 7), Lewis (No. 8) and Northwood (No. 9).
"It will be a tough challenge," Oslie said. "GVSU is coming off some of their best golf, winning GLIACs. University of Indy just won their conference tournament as well.
"I can see five to six teams playing well enough to advance right now."
In 2014, the Eagles were sixth at the super region in Noblesville, Ind. The program's last berth in the Division II Championships was 2013, when they placed 12th as a team. Green, Musick and Tepe all played at nationals two seasons ago.
The 2015 East Super Regional is hosted by Lewis University, and will be a 54-hole tournament.
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