In the midst of midterm season, the women’s golf team played two away tournaments in the span of one week, traveling to Williamsburg, Virginia, for the Kingsmill Intercollegiate tournament and Grasonville, Maryland, for the Prospect Bay Intercollegiate tournament.
The Mountain Hawks placed 10th out of 14 teams at Kingsmill and fifth out of 15 teams at Prospect Bay.
Prospect Bay was Lehigh’s last tournament of the regular season before the Patriot League Championships.
Freshman Madison Pineda tied for first in the tournament based on scorecard playoffs.
Coach Mary Kate Lynch said in both tournaments, the team played 36 holes in one day and then 18 the next.
“It’s about 10 to 12 hours on your feet playing golf, so the physical toll was a lot on the players, plus exams,” Lynch said.
Freshman Sophie Chang practices her swing at the Mulvihill Golf Center on April 6. The Lehigh women’s golf team will compete at the Patriot League Championships from April 15-17. (Chunjing Yang/BW Staff)
Junior Hannah Foster said she had an exam between those two tournaments, adding to the tough week. Pineda also said the busy academic period made the week more difficult.
Following the two tournaments, round one of the Patriot League Championships begins on April 15 in Annapolis, Maryland, hosted by Navy.
“We definitely are very talented, and I think we’re headed in a high point heading into conference,” Lynch said. “We still haven’t played our best golf, so I’m really hoping that it occurs there at our final tournament.”
Foster said some of the team played at the Navy Fall Invitational and liked the course. She said it gives her more confidence for the team’s success at Patriots.
Last year, Navy won the Patriot League Championships. Lehigh has not won one since 2013, when the team finished with a score of 941.
Lynch said some of their other main competitors include Boston University and University of Richmond.
“They’re all really solid,” Lynch said. “We definitely have our work cut out for us.”
Lynch said Prospect Bay was a good experience going into conference play because it allowed them to boost their confidence and not get intimidated when playing competitive teams.
Junior Marina Mendez practices putting in the Mulvihill Golf Center on April 6. The women’s golf team placed fifth out of 15 teams at its last tournament, the Intercollegiate at Prospect Bay. (Chunjing Yang/BW Staff)
“It was a really good experience for (Pineda) to have the lead and have to go through that mentally going into conference, so she’s ready for that,” Lynch said.
Pineda said Prospect Bay was the first time she was in contention this season, meaning she was in a position to win the tournament.
“It was a new feeling to have, just trying to stay calm and trying to do my best to actually win the tournament,” Pineda said.
Foster is one of the team’s three captains, along with juniors Marina Mendez and Iris Shin.
In her position, Foster said before tournaments she will typically send out a packing list along with positive quotes. She also said she takes on the role of motivating the team with pep talks to get the team in the “right mindset.”
She plans to continue to implement these rituals prior to the Patriot League Championship.
Pineda said going forward the team is going to prepare as much as they can by fine tuning their skills.
Lynch said she believes the team’s best golf will come at the upcoming tournament.
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