Coming into the Horizon League tournament, senior Allison Leigeb believed that she had not been playing her best golf in her senior season.

That changed on day one of the tournament held at Las Colinas golf course in Florida, when the senior shot a 72 in the first round to take the day one individual lead and helped propel the Norse to the day one team lead.

“That’s probably the best I played all season,” Leigeb said. “I was pretty excited. It’s always nice to get out to a good start and put some confidence in your system and it just gave me a positive attitude for the rest of the tournament.”

Both Leigeb and the team fell to third place in day two and after a hard fought day three where the Norse led after the 15th hole, the NKU women’s golf team settled for third place in the Horizon League tournament with a three day score of 935.

They fell to eventual winner Cleveland State by seven strokes and were just four strokes behind second place Youngstown State. Head coach Daryl Landrum said he believes the final round of the tournament was one of if not the most exciting finish in the history of Horizon League golf.  

“It was our goal to have a chance to win. Everyone in our group knew it was going to come down to four teams,” Landrum said. “Overall I would say it was successful but we are all still disappointed we lost.”

Emotions ran high for Leigeb on that final day as she fought through a roller coaster performance and the pressure of trying to reclaim first place.

“I was shaking the whole day,” Leigeb said. “I took an eight on number seven. At first I was really frustrated, but I just told myself to calm down and that were a lot of birdies out there and then I got to 14 and actually eagling the hole. It was just about grinding it out the whole day.

“If a few more putts had fallen or had gotten a few more lucky breaks we probably would have won it but that’s just how golf goes.”

It is the second year in a row that the Norse have been in striking distance of a Horizon League championship, finishing in second place, three strokes behind Oakland last season.

Leigeb ended up finishing with a strong third place finish in the individual tournament with a three day score of 228, 12 strokes over par. She fell 11 strokes behind eventual winner Katlyn Shutt who finished just one shot over par.

“It wasn’t necessarily that we lost but that the other teams beat us,” Leigeb said. “They all just had spectacular days. The fact we battled it out, we were close until the 15th hole on the last day, just showed how resilient we were and how hard we worked to get there. It was still disappointing though.”

Leigeb’s performance in her final three rounds of the her collegiate career earned her a spot of the Horizon League All-Tournament team.

“If I would have come in last place and the team would have gotten first, I would have taken that any day over an individual third place finish,” Leigeb said. “It was still pretty cool. I feel like I didn’t play well all season and it was just nice to end on a good note.

“It was still kinda sad ending my NKU golf career cause I feel like it was apart of my life for so long.”

Fellow seniors Ryleigh Waltz and Macy Wright finished tied for 11th with a three day score of 236. Junior Shelby Power finished tied for 15th with a score of 237.

Landrum calls his seniors the foundation of his program and it will be the final time they will all be together on the same course with the same uniform on. Landrum and his seniors shed tears after the final round.

“Losing the seniors is going to be tough. We grew up in the DI together,” Landrum said. “There were a lot of emotions going around at the end of the event.”

Leigeb says the camaraderie on the team is what she is going to miss most about being a Norse.

“Being a part of the team and having teammates that are not only your practice partners but also your best friends was a really great experience,” Leigeb said.