After a disappointing start to its season at the NCAA Championship Preview (11th out of 13 teams) in Daytona Beach, Fla., the women’s golf team came on strong to finish the fall season.

Highlighted by a victory at the 2012 Gilda’s Club Laker Invite hosted by Grand Valley State, the Eagles put together three top-five finishes in consecutive weeks.

The Laker Invite was sandwiched in between the UIndy Fall Invitational and the Findlay Beall Fall Classic, a stretch that lasted from Sept. 23 until Oct. 8. The Eagles finished fourth at Indianapolis with a score of 641, shot 634 to win at Grand Valley and fired 642 for third place at Findlay.

Leading the charge was senior Holly James, who turned in the top score for Ashland at all three tournaments. She finished second at Grand Valley with a two-day score of 152 and was rewarded by being named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference “Golfer of the Week.”

The team had extra motivation because they were playing for their coach, Pam Leonard, whose mother passed away the same weekend as the Indianapolis tournament.

“We kind of had another purpose we were playing for,” said James, who shot 78, 75 for a total score of 153 at Heartland Crossing Golf Linx in Camby, Ind to tie for fourth place.

Freshman Ali Green backed her up (83, 79-162, T-21), followed by sophomores Madison Musick and Abby Tepe who both shot 83,80-163 to finish in a tie for 23rd.

California (Pa.) won the tournament with a score of 606.

A week later, Ashland beat California (Pa.), who was ranked No. 6 at the time, by one stroke. California led AU going into the second round, but AU rallied in what has become a theme for them this season.

“That kind of became our pattern throughout the fall,” James said. “We had everyone pretty much do better the second day.”

James (76, 76-152) was followed by freshman Ali Green, who finished seventh overall (76, 84-160) and Musick (81, 80-161) and Tepe (82, 79-161), who tied for eighth.

There were a lot of talented teams from the region at Grand Valley, making it imperative for the Eagles to play well to make up for their performance in Florida.

“We made sure that we beat some teams we had to beat to kind of go up in the region after our first tournament,” James said.

At Findlay, AU was disappointed to finish third on a course it plays often, the Findlay Country Club, and surprised to see which team finished on top.

“Ferris State came out of nowhere kind of and dropped two amazing scores two days in a row,” James said.

The Bulldogs shot a two-day score of 317 (305, 312) to finish ahead of Grand Valley State by a stroke and beat the Eagles by a wide margin.

James tied for 10th place with a 79, 79-156, followed by Tepe (77, 80-157, T12), Green (T17), Musick (T38) and junior Nicole Trivisonno (T46), who added an 88 the first day.

The back-to-back-to-back top-fives were impressive because Ashland had to adjust on the fly. With only one full week of practice (in between Grand Valley and Findlay), the women could not make swing changes.

“You just had to kind of go into the next tournament and maybe, like, fix your mental game because that’s really all you could do,” Musick said.

James, who has replaced good friend Erin Misheff as the top performer on the team, was the only Eagle to score in the 70s in all six rounds the last three tournaments. She switched putters in the middle of the season and it paid off.

“That’s pretty much the area that’s keeping me away from wins or placing higher is my putting,” she said. “I worked a lot on it, changed it up and saw results.”

Earning “Golfer of the Week” was one of the goals Misheff helped James set before the season started, but she is still chasing her top individual goal, which is to win a tournament.

“That’s my biggest one, she said. “I really want to do that.”

As a team, the Eagles are focused on making Nationals. Green’s strong performance as a freshman during the fall has been huge, but the team will need to find consistent scores from everyone in the spring to return to Daytona in May.

“We want to prove that we went down there to preview (the LPGA National course) for a reason,” James said.