Last season, the Iowa women’s golf team finished runner-up at the Entrada Invitational hosted by BYU early March, its best finish of the season.

Before the team had an opportunity to build on the momentum they had created in Utah, though, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the season to an end.

In the 2021 season, the Hawkeyes had the opportunity to ride the momentum, and they did.

After another runner-up finish at the renamed BYU Spring Classic earlier this month, Iowa continued its good play with another second-place finish this week at the Chattanooga Classic in Tennessee.

The Hawkeyes team score of 30-over-par 894 gave them a share of runner-up position, tying with Chattanooga. That was seven shots behind the East Tennessee St. Buccaneers, who topped the leaderboard.

Following an opening round of 309 Monday morning — which put the Hawkeyes in eighth-place in the 13-team field — Iowa shot up the leaderboard in the second round of competition in the afternoon. The team’s four-score total of three-under-par 285 in round two was the best team score of any team in the tournament.

“We caught a little momentum in the afternoon,” Iowa head women’s golf coach Megan Menzel said. “We were a little frustrated about the start that we’d gotten off to, so it was really good to see them, fire back, and play well in the afternoon.”

Menzel also credited the team’s preparation as the Black Creek Club isn’t an easy course to walk.

“It was a really hilly golf course,” Menzel said. “Definitely a challenge to walk 36 [holes in a day]. I think [the second round] said a lot about our game plan. We knew nutrition [would be important] and just kind of being prepared to be tired. I think paid off just from a mentality perspective.”

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The 285, the team’s second-best single-round score of the season, included both freshman Klara Wildhaber and sophomore Morgan Goldstein’s best rounds in the Black and Gold, both firing three-under-par scores of 69.

Goldstein finished the tournament tied for third, while Jacque Galloway finished tied for fifth and Wildhaber in seventh place.

Goldstein carded four birdies in round two and one bogey.

“My drives were really good all week,” Goldstein said. “And that was really exciting because I just got a new driver. My iron shots weren’t perfect every time, but they were going where I wanted them to go which was great and my short game was definitely working for me. In [the second round] I made a 50 footer and a 45 footer, and my putts were just dropping left and right, so that was a real confidence booster.”

Although Goldstein faded out of contention to win the individual title in the final round — carding a 79 — she is excited to use the 10 days until the team’s next event to work on her iron play, the part of her game she said let her down Tuesday.

“I feel like this tournament, I learned that I can focus more on my irons when I’m in the practice facility,” Goldstein said. “Still focus on my short game, as I was previously, but focusing on my irons and just getting more confident.”

Next on the Hawkeyes’ schedule is a dual with Northern Iowa on April 10-11 in Cedar Falls.