SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- Biola Women's Golf made its way south to San Diego to begin its Spring season Monday. The Eagles had a great crowd on hand to witness their practice round in stunning Southern California conditions on Sunday and then got to work on Monday with a solid round one.

"The conditions today were 10 degrees cooler than yesterday and though the wind was light it was blowing a different direction," said Head Coach Jane Carr. "This always makes it a bit more interesting out there, but the ladies adapted well and stuck to their strategies."

Carr's team shot a 307 in their opening round at the Point Loma Sea Lion Invitational at Rancho Bernardo Inn Golf Club. Jules Loibl led the way for the Eagles in the opener, shooting a 72 to set a new season-best.

"Today was a great start to our spring season," said Carr. "Every player on the travel squad including our individual in the field produced a solid round of golf."

Loibl's scorecard began the day with a bang and also finished on a high note. She had back-to-back birdies to begin her afternoon, shooting a four to open on hole 12 and following it up with a two on the par-three 13th. 

She struggled a bit late in the back nine and then again to start the front nine. All four of her holes over par came between holes 16 through hole three. She recovered quickly from that five-over stretch to go birdie-birdie in holes five and six and then closed her round by shedding a stroke on the par-three 11th.

"She is a fierce competitor and today she was firing at the pins and making birdies," said Carr.

Loibl is just one stroke off the tournament lead headed into day two.

Sami Penor was the next to score for Biola. She shot a 75 to get out to a strong start to the tournament. It was Penor's fifth round this year at 75 or lower. She had an opposite start to Loibl, carding bogeys on each of her first two holes (13 and 14). 

Penor was three-over by the time she got to her first birdie of the day on hole two. She had three bogeys and four pars in those first seven holes of play. After the bird, she shot seven pars in a row to remain at two-under, but bogeyed hole 10 just before closing out the round to finish with her 75.

"Sami didn't let her bogey-bogey start derail her," said Carr. "She had a very steady round today and just missed several birdies leaving herself with tap-in pars."

Penor is tied for fifth overall in a group of eight golfers that are leading the pack through day one. The top scorers sit between 71 and Penor's 75.

Alexis Gopfert (79) and Marcel Manalo (81) rounded out the Eagles' four counting scores. The 79 is just one stroke off of Gopfert's season-best so far. She'll look to ride that momentum into tomorrow and shoot for her best tournament score of the year.

Tori Roeske entered the tournament as an individual (non-counter) and shot a great round, finishing up with an 80 in just her second tournament appearance of the year. It was a season-best round by three strokes.

Rachel Reynolds rounded out all scores with an 82, giving Biola SIX rounds of no more than 10 over par. This is another testament to how far coach Carr has brought this program in just a few short years and leaves promise for an enticing final day of competition.

"Headed into day two we'll take the same mindset that we took today - play your own game and stay relaxed," said Carr. "We simply need more putts to fall and I think our players have a better feel for the greens after today's round. With an early morning start tomorrow and temperatures in the 40's our players are going to have to stay positive and mentally tough."

The final day begins with an early morning start to the final round (8 a.m. shotgun). Follow the progress of the tournament at http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=20035.