Although the women's golf team did not meet its goal of placing in the top half of the pack at last weekend's Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament, the Big Green managed to hit a team low on the second day of play, collectively shooting a nine hole score of 345 on the Pennsylvania State University Blue Coarse.
"I think once we got there and saw the level of competition, we realized our goal might be a little unrealistic," Meredith Johnson '98 said. "We were playing a lot of new teams that were really good, but I was really happy with how we performed."
Sara Vogler '96, once again, took the lead for Dartmouth. She shot a score of 164, placing 23rd out of the 97 women representing 10 schools.
Dartmouth placed eighth at the tournament with a score of 700 (355 on Saturday and 345 on Sunday), ahead of the College of William and Mary and St. Francis College. Longwood College captured the title with 621.
"We had some good nine-hole performances but really didn't string two together," Johnson said. "It was tough for the girls though. They were in the middle of midterms and that didn't help. It's hard to leave that off your mind when you're playing golf."
With the fall season now concluded, the Big Green realize the important strides they have taken in the past month of playing."We kept improving," Johnson said. "I felt like as our scores got better, our course management improved."
The Big Green will use their experiences from the fall to make needed improvements for the spring season.
"The team really improved a lot this season," Heidi Corderman '96 said. "Although we didn't finish in the top half last weekend, we were extremely pleased. It was a nice way to end the season. We have high hopes for the spring and next year."
Because spring begins relatively late in Hanover, the Big Green are often at a disadvantage in March. Yet this year, the lack of practice time will only be one of the Big Green's problems since three of the squad's top four golfers will be on leave for the Spring term.
"This winter we'll have to work more on the mental aspects and course management parts of the game," Johnson said. "Hopefully some of the younger girls will get some good tournament experience this spring."
