Completed Event: Women's Golf at Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational on September 29, 2025 , , T-8th of 15
W Golf
at Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational
T-8th of 15
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes move into 1st at MW Championship
4/22/2026 4:00:00 PM | Women's Golf
Vakasiuola 2nd overall, team holds 1 shot lead
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – The second round of a three-day tournament is considered moving day, where teams tend to move up or down in big swings on the leaderboard ahead the final round.
LEADERBOARD
Grand Canyon's play trended only up, so much so that the two positions it gained after Tuesday's first round put them into sole possession of first place out of 10 teams in the Mountain West Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
In its first ever season in the Mountain West, GCU seeks its first ever Mountain West title and the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament.
As a team, GCU is 8 over par, one shot better than second place Nevada, who it played with today. UNLV is third at 10 over followed by San José State at 13 over in fourth place.
"We are very pleased but not satisfied with our round today as we still gave away a few shots," said head coach Brent Nicoson. "However, we challenged the team to fight until the end and to look at each other and trust that each team member will give everything they have until the last putt was holed and they did exactly that, so we are pleased as coaches. We preach to stay calm and stay tough and we needed that mindset today as the wind picked up on the back nine and our players handled it pretty well."
The Lopes' stellar play also sees freshman Alexis Vakasiuola two shots back of the individual lead. Vakasiuola is 5 under and in solo second place, trailing only Boise State's Leia Chung at 7 under.
The Combs High School alum shot 1 under after a 4 under first round Tuesday. Through 36 holes of play, the first-year collegiate golfer has only two bogeys, seven birdies and 27 pars, a number tied for third among the 50-player field.
Vakasiuola birdied the second and eventually found her first blemish on the card with a bogey on the par three 5th. She bounced back with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to close out her first round at 2 under par. From there, she notched par on eight of the nine back nine holes – mirroring her first round back nine yesterday – and sunk a five-foot putt for par on the 18th to put herself in prime position for the individual medal.
The Lopes are seeking their second D-I conference title and first since the 2017-18 season. Vakasiuola is looking to become the second Lope to win the individual title in a D-I conference tournament since Siripatsorn Patchana did so in 2022 and 2018.
Part of the moving day success was in another fellow freshman Honor Johnson, who moved up 14 spots after an even par second round. After a 6 over first round, Johnson settled in and had three birdies and walked off the 18th green with five straight pars to end her round. Johnson is 24th, one of three Lopes in the top 25.
The other top 25 member is junior Lena Tremouille, whose veteran ship mentality has shown as the tournament has gone on. Tremouille carded a 3 over second round but is tied with Vakasiuola with 27 pars for the tournament and heads into Thursday 13th at 3 over.
Junior Jess Haines is just outside the top 25 at 7 over, recording a 2 over Wednesday. Sophomore Allie Justiz is 30th at 8 over and tied the team high with three birdies for her round today.
"The job today was to be within striking distance tomorrow and our ladies got that job done," said Nicoson. "Hopefully we can get a good night of rest, stick to the same mindset and process and put together a solid round tomorrow."
GCU has made the most on par 3 holes, leading the field with a 3.1 scoring average. It is also second on par 5 scoring at 4.9. The Lopes have 21 birdies (T-5th) and 123 pars, only two back of San José State for the tourney lead.
GCU concludes the Mountain West Championship tomorrow starting at 9:10 AM on hole number one. Each of the five golfers will tee off in 10 minute intervals.
LEADERBOARD
Grand Canyon's play trended only up, so much so that the two positions it gained after Tuesday's first round put them into sole possession of first place out of 10 teams in the Mountain West Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
In its first ever season in the Mountain West, GCU seeks its first ever Mountain West title and the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Regional Tournament.
As a team, GCU is 8 over par, one shot better than second place Nevada, who it played with today. UNLV is third at 10 over followed by San José State at 13 over in fourth place.
"We are very pleased but not satisfied with our round today as we still gave away a few shots," said head coach Brent Nicoson. "However, we challenged the team to fight until the end and to look at each other and trust that each team member will give everything they have until the last putt was holed and they did exactly that, so we are pleased as coaches. We preach to stay calm and stay tough and we needed that mindset today as the wind picked up on the back nine and our players handled it pretty well."
The Lopes' stellar play also sees freshman Alexis Vakasiuola two shots back of the individual lead. Vakasiuola is 5 under and in solo second place, trailing only Boise State's Leia Chung at 7 under.
The Combs High School alum shot 1 under after a 4 under first round Tuesday. Through 36 holes of play, the first-year collegiate golfer has only two bogeys, seven birdies and 27 pars, a number tied for third among the 50-player field.
Vakasiuola birdied the second and eventually found her first blemish on the card with a bogey on the par three 5th. She bounced back with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to close out her first round at 2 under par. From there, she notched par on eight of the nine back nine holes – mirroring her first round back nine yesterday – and sunk a five-foot putt for par on the 18th to put herself in prime position for the individual medal.
The Lopes are seeking their second D-I conference title and first since the 2017-18 season. Vakasiuola is looking to become the second Lope to win the individual title in a D-I conference tournament since Siripatsorn Patchana did so in 2022 and 2018.
Part of the moving day success was in another fellow freshman Honor Johnson, who moved up 14 spots after an even par second round. After a 6 over first round, Johnson settled in and had three birdies and walked off the 18th green with five straight pars to end her round. Johnson is 24th, one of three Lopes in the top 25.
The other top 25 member is junior Lena Tremouille, whose veteran ship mentality has shown as the tournament has gone on. Tremouille carded a 3 over second round but is tied with Vakasiuola with 27 pars for the tournament and heads into Thursday 13th at 3 over.
Junior Jess Haines is just outside the top 25 at 7 over, recording a 2 over Wednesday. Sophomore Allie Justiz is 30th at 8 over and tied the team high with three birdies for her round today.
"The job today was to be within striking distance tomorrow and our ladies got that job done," said Nicoson. "Hopefully we can get a good night of rest, stick to the same mindset and process and put together a solid round tomorrow."
GCU has made the most on par 3 holes, leading the field with a 3.1 scoring average. It is also second on par 5 scoring at 4.9. The Lopes have 21 birdies (T-5th) and 123 pars, only two back of San José State for the tourney lead.
GCU concludes the Mountain West Championship tomorrow starting at 9:10 AM on hole number one. Each of the five golfers will tee off in 10 minute intervals.
Players Mentioned
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Head Coach Brent Nicoson Meets the Team | August 29, 2024
Friday, February 07