SARASOTA, Fla. – Sophomore Mahina Leveau shot an opening round 2-under par 70 to lead the Georgia State women's golf team on day one of FIU Pat Bradley Classic at Lakewood Ranch Golf Club.

Leveau sits in a tie for seventh place with 36 holes to play after making three birdies on Saturday. She is five strokes off the lead held by Florida Gulf Coast's Laura Edmonds at 7-under par.

Georgia State is in nine place after an opening round 6-over par 294, but sit just 12 strokes back of Florida Gulf Coast which opened play with a 6-under par 282.

"Today was a little bit of a grind for us out there," head coach Jessica Steward said. "We weren't hitting the ball as well as we wanted, but Coach Ket and I watched the ladies make a lot of great par saves. It looks like our short game practice is paying off and that helped us to keep ourselves within the mix of teams. We're roughly a handful of shots away from the top five with two rounds yet to play, so we're excited to get some redemption tomorrow. One especially bright spot to our day was Mahina's round. It was so great to see her make a great debut back on the course as a Panther."

Leveau is making her debut this season after missing the first event of the year.

Top 5 Teams
1. Florida Gulf Coast: -6
2. FIU: -3
t3. Boston College: -2
t3. Stetson: -2
t3. Minnesota: -2

Top 5 Individuals
1. Laura Edmonds (Florida Gulf Coast): -7
2. Hanna Kiefer (Stetson): -4
t3. Milburn Ho (FIU): -3
t3. Angel Lin (Boston College): -3
t3. Tatum Walsh (James Madison): -3
t3. Haley Yerxa (Florida Gulf Coast): -3

Georgia State Results
t7. Mahina Leveau: -2 (70)
t34. Emma Berlin: +2 (74)
t34. Kelly Strickland: +2 (74)
t52. Maria Blasco: +4 (76)
t62. Ari Acuff: +5 (77)

One Down, Two to Go: The tournament will continue on Sunday and Monday playing 18 holes each day. Tee times will begin at 8 a.m. ET each day.

How to Follow: Live scoring will be provided on GolfStat.com

Field: Host FIU, Boston College, Daytona State, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia State, Jacksonville, James Madison, Minnesota, Northern Illinois, UTRGV, Stetson, and Western Kentucky.

Next Up: Little Rock Women's Classic; Oct. 24-26; Diamante Country Club, Hot Springs Village, Ark.