After a slow start to the third day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, the SIU women’s golf team finished fourth, right where it was predicted to end up.

The Salukis entered Tuesday in a tie for second and10 strokes behind Bradley, but faltered early in the final day and shot a 327. The host Panthers of Northern Iowa fired a 310 in the final day to pass the Salukis.

Megan Tarrolly scored a triple bogey on the first hole and Stefanie Pate did the same thing on the second hole, something head coach Diane Daugherty said could be attributed to pressure the Salukis felt being within striking distance of the lead.

“I think that they did feel pressure (Tuesday),” Daugherty said. “I think that’s why we got off to such a bad start. Hopefully they’ll learn from that and handle it better the next time around.

“They’re not happy being fourth. I think that they know they’re probably better than Northern Iowa, even though we didn’t show it.”

Tarrolly was the bright spot for her team, finishing in a tie for second and earning All-Conference honors.

“It’s a great feeling,” Tarrolly said. “Coming in on the last hole, I knew that I would be somewhere up there, but I wasn’t really sure where I had placed. I was so nervous. I was a nervous wreck. I was shaking on the last hole, my last putt.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’m very excited about it, and definitely nice for me because I didn’t do so well last year at the conference tournament.”

Despite this year’s disappointment, the Salukis have plenty of reasons to be optimistic at next season’s prospects. Four of the six team members were competing in their first conference tournament.

“I think they definitely learned from it, and I think that it will just make us that much stronger next year,” Tarrolly said. “On top of that, we’ll host it next year, so it will be hopefully something to learn from and something to work forward from.”

Amy Rankin finished 14th and Stefanie Pate tied for 18th place. Tiffany Fritsche tied for 24th, Abbigail Johnson finished 40th and Sara Pate ended up with a 43rd place finish.

The Salukis led after day one of the event in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but fell behind eventual champion Bradley by 10 strokes in the second day, a day marred by poor weather conditions.

The Braves lost their 10-stroke lead over Illinois State in the final day, then came back to win their second straight championship, this time with a one-hole playoff.

“Bradley always seems to play really well at conference,” Daugherty said. “It’s kind of befuddling to me because we beat them twice in the regular season, and then come conference championship time they’re right there.”

Daugherty said a summer of hard work is ahead for the team as it looks to capture its first conference championship since 2000 next year.

“I like being conference champions,” Daugherty said. “We’ve gotta wait a whole year to try to get back on top.”

Reporter Ethan Erickson can be reached at [email protected]