OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. --  The Bridgewater College women's golf team got back to action to begin the spring portion of its schedule at the Pfeiffer Invitational on Monday.

After the first round of play, the Eagles sit fifth in the team standings with a score of 351 (+63). The 13-team field consists of teams from NCAA Division II and II as well as NAIA programs with Adrian leading the way after the opening round. Despite being 22 strokes back from the leaders, the Eagles are just eight strokes behind the second place team, Brenau.

"First Tournament rounds are never easy and the wind and pin placements today added to the challenge," said assistant coach Michael Clark who traveled with the team. "The window to improve is a big one and a second place finish with great effort tomorrow is an attainable goal." 

Leading the way for Bridgewater on Monday was Sophia Martone. The sophomore is in a tie for fourth place at the event after carding a 10-over 82 in the first round. Martone was four over through her first four holes of the morning before playing the middle nine holes at just +3. She dropped in a birdie on 16 but followed that with a pair of bogeys to drop down to 10-over for the round. She said her tee shots put her out of position at times, but she was able to scramble and hit her short approaches well. 

Savannah Scott said she felt off in most aspects of her game in her return to competition with the start of the spring season. Despite that, she played an eight-hole stretch at +2 and birdied #14 as she went in at 87 and enters the second round tied for 24th in the standings. 

Madolin Neff recovered well on the back nine after struggling on the front side of Lion's Paw. She carded an 87 and went in with a 41 on the back nine and dropped in four pars. She said her driver was solid, but her short game hurt her. Neff sits in a tie for 27th.

The last score came from Shaina Beach who registered a 94 after uncharacteristically taking 13 holes to record a par. She was able to recover at the end of the round by making four pars in the final six holes to end the round in 45th place. Beach said she hit her tee shots well, but struggled to hit the greens.

Emily Price said she didn't feel sharp on Monday, especially when trying to get up and down around the greens. She finished the day with a 95 and tied for 47th place. 

Playing as an individual, Kaitlyn Gaeth carded a 92 after posting a solid 44 on the back nine holes. She said she felt good about her driver, but gave up some strokes on the green. She's T-38th after 18 holes.

"It was hard to gauge where we stood in this field given that there are three different divisions, but we came in planning to contend," said head coach John Rogers. "On the other hand, we only had four days at the start of the season to prepare before hitting the road. It certainly wasn't the first round we envisioned, but now hopefully some rust is off and we can move up the leaderboard tomorrow."

The Eagles finish up the Pfeiffer Invitational tomorrow morning.