ORLANDO, FLA. – Campbell opens its 2015 spring women's golf season against top-flight competition in the UCF Challenge.  Rated No.-57 nationally in the final fall Golfstat NCAA rankings, Campbell is one of 18 schools in a field that includes nine programs ranked among the country's top-50.

The Camels will be paired with East Carolina and Texas State for Sunday's first round and will start from the 10th tee at 9:24 a.m.  The 54-hole event continues Monday before concluding Tuesday with a shotgun start.

"It's a great field on a good golf course and maybe we'll get a chance to get some cobwebs out," said Campbell head coach John Crooks.  "The weather has been real sporadic as far as what we've been able to do over the last few weeks, but we're looking forward to the challenge."

For the second-straight year, Eagle Creek Golf Club will host the UCF Challenge.  The par-72 layout will play to 6349 yards.  Campbell tied for 11th at last year's UCF Challenge.  Crooks also has experience on the course from the 2006 Atlantic Sun men's championship.

"Eagle Creek would remind golfers in our area of the last four holes on the Keith Hills White Course," said Crooks.  "It is open, flat and long.  If the wind blows, it's extremely difficult.  It's a championship course on a calm day, but we can't control the weather, so we'll see what happens."

Campbell produced four top-five finishes in five tournaments during the fall season, including a win at its own Fighting Camel Fall Classic and a runner-up showing in the Golfweek Program Challenge.

One of the nation's best teams from tee-to-green, Campbell enters the UCF event ranked second nationally in short game percentage (.537), tied for third in eagles (5) and fifth in greens in regulation percentage (.667).  The Camels also hit the fairway 74.8 percent of the time (18th nationally) and had 31.96 putts per round (19th).

No.-14 Vanderbilt heads the UCF Challenge field along with 17th-ranked Virginia and host UCF, which carries a No.-21 national rating into the event.  The event include also includes Louisville (29th in the Golfstat ranking), Iowa State (32), SMU (40), Tulane (41), Miami (45), Wisconsin (47) and Minnesota (51).

In addition to No.-57 Campbell, UCF Challenge entries include Texas (58), East Carolina (61), Kentucky (63), South Florida (65), Texas State (96), Western Carolina (148) and the country's 14th-ranked Division II program Rollins.

Sophomore Louise Latorre, the 2014 Big South Conference individual champion, enters the UCF Challenge ranked No.-207 in the Golfstat Cup.  The native of Pau, France owns a 74.17 stroke average with two top-10 individual finishes, including a sixth-place tie at the Golfweek Program Challenge.  Latorre ranks 16th in the country in greens in regulation percentage (.722) and No.-37 in par-5 scoring (4.77).

Junior Tahnia Ravnjak of Cordeaux Heights, Australia sits two spots behind Latorre in the Golfstat Cup (No.-209) and starts the spring campaign with a 74.13 scoring average.  She also finished among the top-10 individuals twice, including a fifth-place effort at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic.  Ravnjak is 17th nationally in greens in regulation (.719) and 18th in short game percentage (.569).

Sophomore Nadine White from Brisbane, Australia carries a 75.0 stroke average with three top-15 finishes in the fall.  Senior Lisbeth Brooks of Waunakee, Wis., tied with White for runner-up honors at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic and produced a 75.4 scoring average with two top-10s in the fall.  Brooks is 23rd in the country in short game percentage (.564).

Freshman Ayelen Irizar of Buenos Aires, Argentina will make her third tournament appearance after winning the team's qualifying tournament.  She compiled a 77.3 stroke average over six rounds in the fall and tied for 14th at the Xavier LPGA International Invitational.

"Ayelen is a competitor who knows what it's like to win golf tournaments," said Crooks.  "She did the things she needed to do in the fall to prepare for this spring and her play made quite a statement in qualifying." 

UCF Challenge
Eagle Creek GC / Orlando, Fla.
Feb. 8-10, 2015 / Par 72, 6349 yards

Participating Teams (Golfstat Final Fall national ranking): Vanderbilt (14), Virginia (17), UCF (21), Louisville (29), Iowa State (32), SMU (40), Tulane (41), Miami (45), Wisconsin (47), Minnesota (51), Campbell (57), Texas (58), East Carolina (61), Kentucky (63), South Florida (65), Texas State (96), Western Carolina (148), Rollins (14, NCAA Division II).