Lady Mocs swing into top-15

Southeastern Conference teams control the top five in the polls. Teams like Florida State, Oklahoma State and Ohio State patrol the top-10. Then there are the lesser-known teams sneaking up around the top-15 or 25 that no one expects will last in the polls.This isn't the latest version of college football's BCS rankings, however. And one of those lesser-known teams fighting for respect is UTC.

In just the third year of the program, Coach Colette Murray has guided the Chattanooga golf team to a No. 12 ranking in the initial Golfweek/Sagarin national rankings for the 2009 season.

After falling just short to Florida and South Carolina - which occupy the first and second positions respectively in the rankings - in match play at the Hooter's Collegiate Match Play, Chattanooga traveled to Primm, Nev., and claimed third, just behind No. 7 Pepperdine and No. 9 California.

The Lady Mocs are not taking the traditional "BCS-buster" route to the NCAA finals. According to the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, Chattanooga has played the 13th toughest schedule so far.

"If we had gone back to Jacksonville State (where the Lady Mocs won last year) it would have been a win and it would have looked good, but it wouldn't have done anything for us," Murray said. "If you're not in top tournaments and competing with top teams you don't know how good you are."

Also unlike their football counterparts, the Lady Mocs have earned the respect of their peers.

"I've had some e-mails and some texts from coaches which have been really nice," Murray said. "It does mean we're making a little noise."

But being just two tournaments into a season that could extend into next summer, there is still work to do.

"It's great for the program," Murray said. "This is just our third year. But I'm not making a big song and dance about that. It's September; if we are there in May, ask me again."

Even the early season success has not fully lived up to expectations in Murray's eyes. Chattanooga led the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Nevada after two rounds, then it slipped away. Sophomore Maria Salinas, from Lima, Peru, played injured and hasn't practiced in more than a week. There have been careless mistakes.

"Not being aware of what else was going on," Murray said. "You've got two people hitting shots before you, and not learning from those shots. Just little things - missing on the wrong sides of the greens.

"Just not applying those things is what got us."

The narrow defeats turned from disappointment to frustration for Murray, but as long as it doesn't last all year, she said, it will be easier to just look at the positives.

No matter how it turned out, the play of junior Christine Wolf, of Igls, Austria, was the highlight of the Golfweek Challenge. She finished third individually, and played in the final group in the third round against the top players from Pepperdine and California.

"Christine goes up and down like a roller coaster," Murray said. "And the most calm I've seen her was last weekend. So something clicked."

Murray expects things to start clicking, though. She knows what her team is capable of.

Despite being injured, Salinas is ranked No. 66 individually.

Murray expects De Groot and Wolf to be right there with at the end of the year. Murray also envisions UTC challenging for a national title, even when others would have never seen it coming from such a young program without any sort of track record.

Did she see herself leading a top-10 team so quickly?

"That's what I came here to do," Murray said. "If you don't believe me ask [Athletic Director] Rick Hart. The first time I ever met with him I said something along the lines of 'I didn't come here to win conference championships.' It wasn't meant in a cocky way. I just came here to do bigger and better things."

So the long road to a title continues. But no Boise State or Utah team has claimed a BCS title yet. Maybe college golf will produce a Cinderella victor first.

They do at least have a playoff system.