Silvis, Ill. – The Bethany College women's golf team wrapped up their season in the NAIA Championships at TPC Deere Run this week.

The Swedes finished 24^th (+93) as a team, but did not make the cut after day 2 as the field was trimmed down to the top 18 teams. This was great experience for a Bethany team that featured zero seniors on the roster.

Individually, Brooke Norman and Ida Lihufvudh finished their time in the championships T-48 (+16). Elin Kennborn moved up on day 2 to finish T-113 (+28). Jayli Feeley and Alyssa Cardenas both finished T-143 (+42).

"I am very proud of our girls and the way they competed at the NAIA National Championship," said Head Coach Zach Able. "In a moment like that, it is very easy to get caught up in the atmosphere and be overwhelmed but the team stayed focused and relaxed all week. It was hard to see us fall just short of making the cut, especially when I knew we could have performed a little better. All in all, it was an amazing experience. It's not every day that you get the chance to play a course on the PGA Tour. We had a lot of fun all week and I hope it is a memory that the girls will take with them. Moving forward as a team, we are excited to try and continue our success next year, Go Swedes!"

Matchplay is when each school takes their top 5 golfers and match each golfer against one from a rival school. Play is typically done in pairs of two. Each golfer is tasked with beating whoever they are playing for that round. Scoring is a bit different than usual. Whoever wins the hole with in the matchups will win one point rather than the score relying on stroke differential. The best of the 5 matchups will determine the winner between the two schools.

In the first round of competition, the 2-seed Swedes were matched up against 7-seed Sterling. Defending KCAC Champion junior Ida Lihufvudh was done by hole 14 with a 5-point victory. Freshman Elin Kennborn finished won her match up with a 4-point victory. Fellow freshman Brooke Norman would clinch the team victory with a 3-point win. Junior Alyssa Cardenas got the pass and the win as Sterling did not have enough to field a full team, so the Swedes would win this matchup 4-1.

In the semifinal, the Swedes would face off against 6-seed Friends. Lihufvudh and Kennborn would dominate their matchups with 8-point victories. Junior Devorah Urea would "seal the deal" with a 5-point victory. Norman narrowly escaped with the win in her match as she won by 1 point, but the Swedes would advance to the finals with a 4-1 victory over the Falcons.

In the final, the Swedes were set to face the top-seed Kansas Wesleyan. This match would go down to the wire as Ida Lihufvudh and Brooke Norman would each win their matchups by 4 and 2 points respectfully. Cardenas and Urea were unable to take their matches, so it was down to Elin Kennborn to finish it off. Kennborn and her rival Abby Donovan, last year's freshman of the year, were tied off and on all the up until the final hole where Donovan was able to pull through and the Swedes would fall 3-2 to the Coyotes and return in second-place.