Sept. 23, 2009
Complete 54-Hole Results in PDF Format 
PULLMAN, Wash. - Gonzaga University junior Sage Suffecool shot a final-round 80 Wednesday to finish tied for sixth at the Northwest Dodge Dealers Inland Cup women's golf tournament hosted by Washington State University at Palouse Ridge Golf Course.
Suffecool entered the final round of the 54-hole tournament in third place two shots out of the lead. She finished at 227 over the 6,126-yard, par 72 layout. Freshman Victoria Fallgren shot her third straight 76 Wednesday to finish 10th at 228.
Second-round leader Kayla Mortellaro of the University of Idaho shot a final-round 74 for a 54-hole score of 219 and a 1-shot victory over teammate Amanda Jacobs and Cara Freeman of Oregon State University.
Gonzaga finished fourth in the team standings, maintaining the position the Bulldogs held going into the final round and edging Fresno State University for fourth by one stroke. Idaho captured the team title with a 903 for a 13-stroke victory over the University of Nevada.
The Bulldogs also finished ahead of Pacific-10 Conference schools Oregon State University (tied for fifth at 933) and the host Cougars (eighth at 940).
"I'm really, really proud of this team," Gonzaga head coach Brad Rickel said. "We didn't shoot our best score, but it was windy for the third straight day which made it extremely difficult. The wind was tough, the greens were hard and the pin placements were difficult.
"But being early in the season, as young as we are and paired with two Pac-10 schools (WSU and OSU) on the final day we played well enough to hold them off. It was truly a team effort."
Rickel said Suffecool double-bogeyed the second hole and "was just a tiny bit off all day. She battled hard and as a junior showed the maturity to battle through it. If she were a freshman I think she would have shot a lot higher score today. But 80 was about as well as she could have shot today when you take everything into consideration. In this wind if you start going sideways it's tough. She had some looks at birdies but it just wasn't to be her day."
Fallgren also drew the praise of her coach.
"Victoria finished birdie-birdie which turned out to be huge when you consider we finished one shot ahead of Fresno State and Oregon State. She didn't quite have it today either. It was a grind for her. But she has now finished in the top 10 in her first two collegiate tournaments, so that's good for her confidence to know she can play at this level."
Fallgren won last week's Bulldog and Eagle Invitational in her collegiate debut.
Sophomore Jessica Howe rallied to shot a final-round 75 after shooting 82-81 through the first two rounds. She finished tied for 25th at 238.
"Jessica finally found her groove," Rickel said. "She looked like the Jess of last year. She's been working hard and playing hard, but she just hasn't been getting ball in the hole."
The Bulldogs, who competed back-to-back weeks to open the season, will now be idle until Oct. 5-6 when they compete in the CU Heather Farr Memorial hosted by the University of Colorado.
