WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's golf coach Dan Messmann was hoping his team could use the Winona State University Fall Foilage Tournament as a final tune-up for the upcoming Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

Unfortunately, if the Cardinals' ninth-place showing is any indication, Messmann's Cardinals still have a little work to be done under the hood.

The Cardinals, coming off back-to-back tournaments in which they showed remarkable improvement — firing a school-record 735 total in the Gustavus Invitational two weeks ago, then adding a 379 in the one-day Luther Invitational last weekend — took a step backwards last weekend, struggling to a ninth-place showing in the nine team Fall Foilage field.

"We were hoping to use this meet as a chance to fine-tune our games before (this weekend's) conference tournament," admitted Messmann, whose team shot a respectable 369 first-day total, but ballooned to a 391 over the final 18 holes. "The course was set up very tough, and mentally we did not handle adversity very well."

Messmann should have known from the minute he stepped on the course for Sunday's final round that things weren't going to go the Cardinals way. The Cardinals were scheduled to start the round on the 13th hole (the tournament was a shotgun start) — and did it every prove unlucky.

"Nobody played the hole well — we had a seven, an 11, a 13 … ," admitted Messmann. "And everyone just carried that mental burden with them the rest of the round. To start out with a big number like that just go everyone off on the wrong foot."

Kris Klimmek (Jordan, Minn.) led the way for the Cardinals, shooting a 183 (90-93), while Ellen Berndt (Rice Lake, Wis.) added a 188 (88-100), and Anne Moe (Rogers, Minn.) and Emily Nordstrom (Mendota Heights, Minn.) rounded out the Cardinals' top four with scores of 195 (92-103) and 196 (99-97), respectively.

"What we have to do now is put this tournament behind us, have a good week of practice and get ourselves mentally prepared to play our best rounds of the year (at the conference tournament," said Messmann.