Five members of the women’s golf team grabbed their clubs and headed for the William and Mary Invitational held in Williamsburg, Virginia March 30-31 to open the spring 2002 campaign. With a combined two-round score of 624, the Eli women were 56 over par, good for fourth-place in the two-round tournament.
“I was pleased with their finish,” coach Mary Moan said. “We had struggled a bit in our scoring over spring break and we fought back nicely this tournament.”
On a pleasant Saturday, Yale took advantage of being the first of 15 teams to tee off, and ended the opening round solidly with a score of 309, tied for first with host William and Mary.
“A couple years ago, our scores would probably have won the tournament,” captain Sarah Seo ’02. “I think our finish this weekend is proof of the rise in quality of play, particularly in the Northeast and the Ivy League.”
Sunday greeted the golfers with a chilly drizzle as James Madison University and Princeton, which were tied for third coming into the second round, shot an impressive 301 and 303 respectfully to take the top two spots. The College of William and Mary edged out Yale by one stroke to capture third overall.
Individually, the Elis had three women place in the top 20. Captain Sarah Seo ’02, tied for fifth with a combined score of 151, three strokes off the leader, Avery Kiser of Princeton. Jenny Schriefer ’02 shot 78 and 77 to tie for 15th and rookie Stephanie Wei ’05, who was hindered in the fall with a back injury, shot 156 to tie for 17th place.
“We had some notable individual performances that will give us some increased confidence going into the next two weekends,” Moan said.
Though Yale has won the Ivy crown in three out of the past five years, they finished second, behind Princeton in 2001. But if the team stays healthy they will be a threat to recapture the title.
“We were somewhat disappointed [with the fourth-place performance],” Seo said, “but our finish is not really reflective of the improvement that we’ve made within the past couple of weeks.”