The South Carolina women’s golf team shot a 3-over 291 on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA East Regional at Southwood Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla.

“We got off to a good start today,” said head coach Kalen Harris. “We didn’t have anybody go low, which is tough because [this course] is pretty scoreable. The wind definitley picked up on the back side. There were some good teams that went low and relative to that we didn’t have our best day. At the same time, we didn’t do anything that I feel puts us way behind either. We have some work to do [in the second and third rounds] and I know the team is up to the challenge. We’ve been in this position before and there is still a lot of golf left to play.

Vanderbilt is currently in first place with an 11-under 277. Tulane and Virginia round out the top-three with scores of 280 (-8) and 283 (-5), respectively. The top eight teams and top two individuals not on those teams will advance to the NCAA Championship. The Gamecocks finished the round in a tie for 11^th place, only one stroke behind the teams currently tied for ninth place and two strokes behind the teams currently tied for sixth place.

Sophomore Sarah Schmelzel led the way on Thursday, shooting a 1-under 71 to finish the round in a tie for 19^th place. She recorded two birdies and a bogey on the front nine and stayed even through the back side.

Senior Suzie Lee turned in an even-par 72 to conclude the round in a tie for 28^th place. Lee got off to a strong start as she birdied the first two holes and followed with 11 consecutive pars. On the back side, she bogeyed then birdied the 14^th and 15^th holes, respectively, but ended with a double bogey on the 18^th.

Senior Samantha Swinehart wrapped up the round in a tie for 46^th place. Swinehart began her day with nine consecutive pars and a birdie on the 10^th hole, but bogeyed twice on the back side to finish with a 1-over 73.

Junior Justine Dreher carded a 3-over 75 is currently tied for 70^th place. She tallied three birdies and six bogyes on the day. Freshman Katelyn Dambaugh finished the round in a tie for 87^th place to round out the lineup. She carded a 4-over 76 and while recording two birdies and and six bogeys.

“I loved what I saw out of the gate this morning,” said Harris. “A couple of people birdied the first few holes, which were very scoreable with the pin placements. They did a great job starting out early and [the course] gets progressively harder. Eight and nine are difficult holes and when you get on the back nine there are some hard finishing holes coming in. They [the team] knows this golf course, so we’ll just keep fighting and see where it takes us.”

Tulane’s Emily Penttila is currently at the top of the individual leader board with a 7-under 65. Celine Boutier of Duke carded a 5-under 67 to finish the round in second place.

South Carolina is scheduled to tee off at 1:11 p.m. ET on Friday in the second round and will be paired with Duke and Stanford. Live scoring is available through Golfstat.