The women's golf team will head to Peoria, Ill., Sunday, April 15 for the three-day Missouri Valley Conference Championship. Bradley University will be hosting this event.

The Panthers are coming off of a third-place finish at the Payne Stewart Memorial Tournament in Springfield, Mo. UNI played great the first day, but the windy conditions the second day got the best of them.

Freshman Molly Schemm has had the lowest score on the team in 70 percent of the tournaments so far this season. She has also finished in the top 10 in 78 percent of the events to date. She is currently in the sixth golfer on the MVC Leader Board. Two Missouri State and Southern Illinois and one Bradley player are ahead of her. She is only 1.5 strokes behind the first place position. Schemm looks to remain consistent and lead the team one final time this season.

The unfortunate winter weather this week has put a wrench in the Panthers' plans to get a full week of good practice in before the tournament. They are hoping to get some practice in if the snow melts before they leave for the tournament.

"The weather this week has definitely hurt us, but all we can do is get as much practice in as we can and have confidence that our talent and drive will do the rest," UNI head coach John Bermel said.

A pre-championship poll completed by the league coaches determines the pairings for the first day of play. Southern Illinois was tabbed to win the tournament. UNI was selected to finish in the fifth-place position.

"Based on how we've been playing that is about where we should be, although we know we are better than that, and now it is about proving that to everyone else," Bermel said.

The pairings for the first day are determined by your ranking after the poll. The first, third and fifth place teams play together, as well as the second, fourth and sixth place teams and lastly the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth place teams play together.

Based on the poll UNI will be playing with Southern Illinois, and Illinois State, who are first and third. Missouri State, Bradley and Wichita State are paired, and Indiana State, Creighton, Drake and Evansville will play together.

The team pairings for the second day are decided by the results from the first day of play.

Six Panthers will be competing in the MVC Championship in Peoria. Seniors Stef Nelson and Emily Heseman will be competing in the final regular season tournament of their careers. Finishing off the tournament roster will be Molly Schemm, Kim Weber, Heather Frye and Ellen Fry.

Last year, the Panthers finished fourth in the MVC Championship. UNI shot 310, 308 and 311 for a total score of 929. Nelson, Heseman, Frye and Weber all participated in this event last year.  Nelson finished tied for fourth along with fellow teammate Dana Moening.

With the Panthers having four women with MVC Championship experience they have a great chance to show they can finish higher than fifth.

"We will only go as far as the top three or four will take us," Bermel said. "If we don't have those top scores we won't finish as well as we hope to."

Bradley won the tournament last year, but was chosen by the coaches to finish fourth this year. They barely edged out Illinois State by two strokes. They are hosting the event this year, which might seem to be somewhat of an advantage.

This season marks the first time all 10 MVC members will sponsor women's golf, as Drake and Indiana State started programs for the 2006-07 season.

The coaches will meet before the tournament to vote for the Player of the Year and the Newcomer of the Year.