Dartmouth's golf teams were both in action last weekend, with the men taking eighth in a field of 12 in the Central Connecticut Invitational in New Britain, Conn., and the women finishing tenth out of 17 at the Princeton Invitational.
The Big Green men finished with a 36-hole total of 611, 20 shots behind Central Connecticut State University, who took first by four strokes over Army.
Matt Uretsky '07 led the team, shooting rounds of 71 and 78 (149), good for a tie for ninth; Brendan Ray of CCSU led the field with 68 on the first day and 73 on the second, for a winning stroke total of 141.
"Matt was one shot under par the first round. [He] definitely showed me he has a ton of potential that I'll have to try and unlock over the next year and a half," said interim men's coach Rich Parker.
Alex Olshonsky '09 shot 75-78 (153), Jamie Wallace '08 a 79-75 (154), co-captain Chaki Kobayashi '06 shot 82-75 (157), and co-captain Kenan Yount '06 finished with 80-79 (159) to contribute to the scoring.
While the team's performance was not as strong as originally hoped, Dartmouth's second-place showing at their own invitational the previous weekend proved to Parker the team's legitimate potential.
"We had a tough outing, but I think we can play well on the road," Parker said. "I think we're a lot better than people think we are, and a lot better than the team thinks we are."
Dartmouth's women finished with 661, one stroke ahead of Brown, while the Tigers won their tournament by shooting 605, a staggering 20 shots ahead of second-place Yale.
Princeton's Sharla Cloutier took first overall with a one-over-par total of 76-69 (145).
Elizabeth Dupuy '08 led the scoring for the Big Green women, finishing tied for 17th with 160, 81-79.
Completing the scoring were Libby Wegener '08, 81-87 (168), Hayley Stevens '07, 84-85 (169), Tory Shepard '09, 83-86 (169) and Annie Daher '07, 96-82 (178).
Though the team struggled on Princeton's rough course, there were some bright points, notably Dupuy's strong finish. The sophomore shot a mere 7 over for her final 27 holes.
"As a team, we were a little disappointed with our performance," said Dupuy. "We didn't compete with the focus and confidence that I know we are capable of, and I think that can be attributed to the difficulty we encountered on the back nine."
The team will certainly need to regain their focus for next weekend, as the course at Yale is even more challenging than Princeton's.
"All of the teams will shoot higher than usual, we'll keep working hard, and keep striving to get down to the 320 [strokes per day] mark," said women's coach Kevin Gibson, referring to the course at Yale.
The women tee off again this weekend, traveling to the Yale Invitational, while the Big Green men will be moving on to Farmington, Conn. to compete in the ECAC fall championship.
