The South Carolina women's golf team fell short in its loss to the Ole Miss Rebels in the championship round of the East Lake Cup, the team's final tournament of the fall season.
Heading into the tournament, the Gamecock women's golf team earned the No. 2 seed after playing the opening round at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on Monday.
Freshman Paula Kirner, sophomores Mathilde Claisse and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard and seniors Lois Kaye Go and Pimnipa Panthong made up the tournament lineup for the Gamecocks.
The competition was made up of four of the top women's golf programs in the country, including two of South Carolina's SEC opponents, Ole Miss and Florida, and Texas.
On Tuesday, the Gamecocks faced off against the No. 3 Florida Gators.
To start the day, Roussin-Bouchard went 1-up on the second hole against her opponent, Annabell Fuller. Roussin-Bouchard extended her lead, but not before Fuller began her comeback and won the 12th hole. To finish out the round, Roussin-Bouchard held on through the last few holes and won the matchup 1-up.
"I'm very excited," Roussin-Bouchard said after Tuesday's round. "It was a really tough match and we both played really, really good, especially the last five holes."
Later, Claisse found herself in a close matchup, but her finish gave South Carolina a 2-0-0 lead on the day.
After Florida's Addison Baggarly defeated Panthong in the third matchup, it was Go's turn to try to secure the win for the Gamecocks.
Go was in a back and forth match with Florida's Clara Manzalini. When Manzalini took the lead, Go rebounded to take the ninth and 10th holes, causing a tie. The two were still tied by the 18th hole before Go took the win for the Gamecocks on the 19th hole.
Kirner tied with Florida's Maisie Filler, so the Gamecocks finished the round 3-1-1, securing their spot in the championship round.
On the final day of the tournament, the No. 2 Gamecocks took on the No. 1 Ole Miss Rebels in the championship round.
"Ole Miss is a good, solid team and, you know, they're playing well right now and have a lot of momentum," head coach Kalen Anderson said. "We knew that we had to play great golf."
The Gamecocks were in several tight matches throughout the day, but ultimately, Ole Miss took three of the five matches. The teams were tied at 2-2, so it all came down to a match between Go and Ole Miss' Julia Johnson.
After winning her matchup against Chiara Tamburlini, Claisse said she was grateful for her time at the East Lake Cup, despite the loss.
"So much history here and especially like those team events, I mean, I don't know why, but they are so different," Claisse said in a press conference. "You don't play for you, you play for your team. And being here and playing for your team is just unbelievable. It's magical."
This tournament gave the Gamecocks some final match play practice before heading into the SEC and NCAA tournaments in the spring.
"Having that experience is just — you can't put a price tag on that, going into the spring," Anderson said. "We don't get a lot of opportunities to play match play in competition during our season."