Stanford, CA (U-WIRE) -- Few top-25 teams are able to add a top player to their rosters during the course of a season, but that is exactly what the No. 21 Stanford women's golf team did last Monday at the Oregon Duck Invitational in Junction City, Ore. Junior Stephanie Lue, sidelined earlier in the season by a stress fracture in her lumbar spine, got her fist taste of competition since October as the Cardinal finished third in a field of 17 teams.

Lue's condition, which made it difficult for her to walk at one point during the season, trimmed Stanford's small roster to just five players for much of the year. Since each team sends five players to compete in tournaments, coach Caroline O'Connor was left with no room to maneuver her personnel.

Nonetheless, her teammates have picked up the slack thus far, and are getting a lift just as they hit the final leg of their season.

"Having Steph back is awesome," sophomore Lauren Todd said. "She's a fighter, and she's able to create solid scores out of tough rounds to help the team. It also doesn't hurt that she's my best friend and roommate - when she's out there I have this extra edge."

On paper, the Oregon Duck Invitational was an excellent chance for the Cardinal to claim their first team victory of the year. The par-72 6,103-yard Shadow Hills Country Club hosted just one team in the nation's top 25 last week - Stanford - and California was the only other squad in the top 30.

Oregon's winter weather, however, intervened to complicate matters.

"The first day was just cold, and the second day was cold, windy and rainy," junior Kelly Husted said. "Consequently, the course played pretty long."

Scores were high for the entire event, and Stanford had to hang on to keep itself in contention during a rough opening round.

Todd, Husted and senior Wendra Liang all shot first-round 78s, while Lue and sophomore Jenni Tangtiphaiboontana fired matching 81s. Stanford's resulting 315 in the first 18 holes was the team's second-worst score of the year, but left the Cardinal in just sixth place in the rugged conditions.

Still within striking distance after its early struggles, Stanford turned it on in the afternoon round, shooting a 294 and climbing into fourth place overall.

Tangtiphaiboontana led the way with the Cardinal's best round of the tournament, a two-under-par 70. She was the only Stanford player to find red numbers during the week.

Todd chipped in with a 74, while Husted and Lue each shot 75, and Liang added 76, leaving the Cardinal just nine shots behind leaders Oregon and Washington State with one round to go.

"We felt that this was a tournament that we should have won," Husted said. "We just put ourselves too far back after the first round."

Although Stanford's final-round 302 left the team five shots short of the title, the Cardinal got one of their best five-player efforts of the season.

Todd's third-round 73 propelled her into an eighth-place finish, her best showing of the season and her first visit to the top 10.

"Driving kept me in it the first two rounds," Todd said. "[In the last round] it was all short game - I had 12 one-putts. It was the best my short game has been in at least a year."

Husted's 74 on Tuesday netted her second 10th-place finish of the year, and her sixth consecutive top-25. Liang recorded a final-round 78 and grabbed 17th place overall, her best performance of the season.

Tangtiphaiboontana wrapped up 20th place with a third-round 82, while Lue shot 79 on Tuesday to tie for 27th place, her best finish in just three events this year.

"I'm definitely very excited to be back and playing," Lue said. "It's been a long time since the last time I competed, and it's fun knowing that I haven't forgotten how to compete."

The Cardinal will compete in Tempe, Ariz. next week at the Ping ASU Invitational.

(C) 2004 The Stanford Daily via U-WIRE