WINONA, Minn. — It was supposed to be their home turf, a place where the Saint Mary's University women's golf team should have the upper hand on their opponents.

Friday and Saturday at the SMU Invitational, however, Cedar Valley Golf Course was anything but friendly to the host Cardinals, as SMU struggled to a fifth-place finish in the five-team field.

"We were very close to putting up some very good numbers on the first day, but Cedar Valley can really bite you," said SMU coach Dan Messmann. "And (the course) definitely bit us this weekend."

Winona State ran away with the tournament, with the Warriors' top team placing first, while their second team was second. UW-River Falls finished third, followed by Luther and Saint Mary's.

"We had a couple of nice rounds, but we need to get our scores down across the board," said Messmann, whose team was led by Andrea Hanke's (Janesville, Wis.) 86-86—172 and a 186 (93-93) by Dani Lynch (Williston, N.D.). "Our first day score (370) wasn't too bad — and it had the potential to be a lot better — but our second day wasn't that great. We've got to get more consistent if we are going to make any type of move (at the conference tournament)."