OKLAHOMA CITY (March 5, 2020) – If it seems like it's been a long time since Oklahoma Christian's women's golf team has played in a tournament, well, it has been.

Due to the vagaries of their schedule, the Eagles have waited 4½ months since their last tournament of the fall season, which ended Oct. 22. But they'll finally return to competition next week, playing locally in the annual Diffie Ford-Lincoln Invitational, hosted by Southern Nazarene at Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond on Monday and Tuesday.

OC posted a pair of third-place finishes in four fall tournaments, playing without senior standout Abigail Rigsby, who is taking a redshirt season with plans to return in 2020-21. But coach Greg Lynn's Eagles – while young – still have plenty of talent on the roster.

Junior Shaley Goad of Wheeler, Texas, was the Heartland Conference's individual runner-up last spring and posted a third-place finish last fall in the Northeastern State Women's Classic at Cherokee Springs Golf Club in Tahlequah. She also placed 12th in the power-packed Division II West Super Region Preview and enters the spring with a season scoring average of 76.13.

Another junior, Felicity Wittenberg of West Pymble, Australia, posted her first two career top-10 finishes in the fall, while freshman Wilma Merenmies of Jyvaskyla, Finland, matched that feat, including a second-place finish in the West Texas A&M Fall Invitational at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas.

Freshman Alyssa Wilson of Yukon ended the fall with a solid 15th-place showing in the Super Region Preview, while sophomore Alexandria Bennett of Plano, Texas, has three career top-10 finishes and (along with Goad) started on last year's OC squad that qualified for the NCAA Division II Championship for the first time.

Those five will start for OC at Kickingbird, while junior Elin Eriksson of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, and sophomore Sarah Harrison of Edmond will compete as individuals. Ericksson played in two tournaments for the Eagles in the fall, starting one.

The Eagles will play in four tournaments this spring before competing for the first time in the Lone Star Conference Championship, which will be played April 21-23 at Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington, Texas.

Three of those tournaments will be in the next three weeks – the event at Kickingbird, then the Midwestern State Invitational in Wichita Falls, Texas (March 16-17) and Texas A&M-Commerce's Lion Invitational in Trophy Club, Texas (March 23-24). The Eagles will travel to Goodyear, Ariz., for the RJGA Palm Valley Classic on April 3-4.

The goal will be to finish in the top 12 in the West Super Region and qualify for the second straight year for the Super Regional Championship, which will be played in Carlsbad, Calif., in May.