Sophomores Valentina Fontaine (Santiago, Chile) and Carolin Pinegger (Marquartstein, Germany) each shot a final round 69 as the UCF women’s golf team knocked off No. 21 Kent State, 598-591, on Saturday in a 36-hole dual match at RedTail Golf Club in Sorrento.

Pinegger claimed the day’s individual title with her 143 (-1), completing the event two strokes ahead of Fontaine’s 145 (+1).

“I am very excited to see how well we played today,” UCF head coach Courtney Trimble said. “We had been working very hard all winter after a disappointing fall focusing on starting the spring off right with this match today. We came out and played some great golf and, if we keep the hard work at practice up, things hopefully will look good for the UCF Challenge.”

The fifth annual UCF Challenge, also to be played at RedTail, was recently rated as one of the nation’s 15 best spring tournaments by Golf Digest. The event’s 54 holes will be contested from Feb. 13-15 at the par-72, 6,301-yard Lake County course.

Today the Knights and Golden Flashes stood tied at 301 at the end of the morning’s 18 holes with the Knights led by Pinegger’s 74 (+2) and a 75 (+3) by freshman Isabelle Bachtiar (Karlstad, Sweden), numbers topped amongst the team-scored competitors by only Kent State’s Martina Gravier who shot a 73 (+1).

UCF proved to be seven strokes better than Kent State after lunch to claim the overall victory. Fontaine’s 69 tied her career low while Pinegger’s 69 was her lowest total of the 2010-11 season, lifting her to her first career event title.

Freshman Kaitlyn Price (Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) was third amongst the Knights, carding a 77 and a 74 for a 151 (+9). Bachtair was UCF’s fourth finisher with a 153 (+11) while senior Katie Detlefsen took home a 155 (+13). In addition, sophomores Jordyn Hage (Winter Park, Fla.) and Sunny Harris (Pensacola, Fla.) competed as individuals, shooting 152 and 166, respectively.

The Knights will carry the momentum of this win into their next competition in two weeks when a strong field of 16 schools join the Knights at RedTail for the UCF Challenge, Feb. 13-15.

UCF INDIVIDUAL SCORES

1. Valentina Fontaine 74-69=143 (-1)

2. Carolin Pinegger 76-69=145 (+1)

7. Kaitlyn Price 77-74=151 (+7)

T10. Isabelle Bachtiar 75-78=153 (+9)

12. Katie Detlefsen 76-79=155 (+13)

IND. Jordyn Hage 78-74=152 (+8)

IND. Sunny Harris 84-82=166 (+22)