NIU women’s golf opened its season by placing fourth in the two-day Green Bay Invitational.

“I think for the first tournament of the year, considering the conditions of today and yesterday, we had a couple 70 scores and low 80s for the rest of the tournament,” said NIU junior Allie Parthie. “So for our first tournament, that’s pretty good, because normally you start out a little higher and your scores get lower as the season goes on.”

Parthie posted a first round score of 75, which was two strokes behind leader Ann Vrdolyak of Loyola, who held a 73.

Parthie, a Marinette, Wis. native followed up her second day performance with an 82, which placed her sixth overall at the event.

NIU senior Katie Kuhn also had a productive first round performance and found herself in the top 10 overall by shooting a 78.

The Clarendon Hills, Ill. native then followed up her first round performance with a 78, which placed her fifth overall in the tournament.

“The first day my swing just felt really solid,” Kuhn said. “I kind of just got after it the first day because everything just felt good.”

Kuhn’s fellow Huskie teammates Kelsie Passolt and Carissa Burdi both shot 83 which tied them for 31st place overall in the first round as well.

Kuhn echoed the sentiments of Parthie in that the playing conditions of the second day made her have to adjust the way she performed overall.

“I still hit pretty solid, but played pretty conservative,” Kuhn said. “I really had to rally in the back nine. I didn’t really start out that great, but I did end up rallying on the back nine.”

NIU freshman Taylor Ellett sat in 44th place in the first round after shooting an 85.

The Huskies’ next meet will be the Ball State Invite.

For Kuhn, this will be her second year playing at the event, and Tyska said Kuhn will be her No. 1 golfer.

After struggling last year, Kuhn feels confident after NIU’s first event of the fall season.

“Now that I went out and shot two solid rounds, it really takes a lot off my mind and now I can relax and just have fun,” Kuhn said.