W. Golf improves at Ivy tournament

The Penn women's golf team ended its season with a sixth-place finish at last weekend's Ivy Championships, notching a 78-shot improvement over last year's team score. Penn shot a two-day total of 706 in the 36-hole tournament, which was held on Sunday and Monday at Forsgate Country Club in Jamesburg, N.J. "We were by far the youngest team there," Penn freshman Laura Dolan said. "All in all, I think we fared pretty well." The Quakers made a remarkable turnaround from last year's team score of 784, coming in only three shots behind fifth-place Harvard this year. In comparison, the team finished 36 shots behind the fifth-place Crimson in 2000. For the second straight year, Penn sophomore Stacy Kress recorded the team-high score with a 168, finishing in a tie for 16th place. In last year's tournament, Kress shot a 161, which was good enough for fifth place and first-team All-Ivy honors as a freshman. Dolan and freshman Valerie Wong each shot a 176 to finish tied for 21st place. Senior Jen Schraut finished in 26th with a 186, and freshman Jessica Penzell placed 30th with a 209. Princeton won the two-day tournament with a team score of 625, outdistancing Yale by nine shots and Brown -- a team that was only three shots back after the first day -- by 15. The Tigers also captured the top two individual finishes as well. Julia Allison shot a 149, and teammate Esty Dwek shot a 154. The Quakers shot a 342 on Monday, a 22-shot improvement on their first-round score. The major turnaround between Sunday and yesterday was due to both windy conditions and the lack of a coach for Sunday's round. Because the women's team shares its head coach with the men's, they were without a coach on Sunday. Head coach Francis Vaughn spent the day coaching the men's team to a second-place finish in their Ivy League tournament. "We had a players-only meeting the night before to try and motivate ourselves," Dolan said. "But it's hard not having a coach there to watch you." This marked the fifth year in which an Ivy League tournament champion has been crowned in women's golf, and only the second in which the Quakers have officially vied for the championship. Two years ago, the Red and Blue fielded players in the tournament, but their scores were not officially recorded. The women's tournament is now getting some national recognition. For the first time, the winner of the Ivy conference tournament receives a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Bids will be formally determined in two weeks. The weekend's action marked the end of Penn's second season of varsity women's golf. The team should be in good position to improve even more next season, as they will only lose Schraut to graduation.

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