W. Golf sixth at season opener in New Haven

By finishing sixth at the Yale Invitational, the Penn women's golf team certainly proved itself to be up-to-par this season.

Penn first-year head coach Jane Cousounis was elated by her team's opening weekend performance.

The showing was "fantastic. We had great weather, a great course, and close competition," Cousounis said. "I was real pleased with the way the girls finished."

The Quakers accumulated a two-day score of 654, shooting a personal best-round of 321 on Saturday.

Led by senior Stacy Kress --who finished with successive daily scores of 79 and 81 -- sophomore Lauren Eveland, and freshmen Jenna Skorupa and Kim Thompson, the Quakers showed the other 11 teams what they were all about in their best showing ever at the invitational.

Eveland confirmed the team's confidence with her three-over-par score of 73 in round one of the tournament, and ultimately nailed five birdies throughout the tournament. At the conclusion of day one, the Quakers stood a mere two shots behind Georgetown and Boston College in sixth place.

Thompson, played one of the best holes of the tourney, finishing with an eagle on the par-four 14th hole. Her success came as no surprise, however, given her previous experience in her hometown of Indianapolis and with the American Junior Golf Association.

Both Skorupa and Thompson improved their scores on the second day of the tournament. Skorupa lowered her score from 87 to 82, while Thompson improved from 89 to 85.

"The Yale course is ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the country in terms of difficulty, so I was hoping the girls wouldn't get discouraged," Cousounis said. "[Fortunately, the young members of the team] were very composed. I expect that they will help the team a lot, especially if they are comfortable at Yale."

Kress also praised the freshmen.

"The freshmen did a very good job of handling the challenge of the course and adjusting to collegiate golf," she said.

Entering the season, the Quakers established a general goal of a team daily total of 320. However, they upped this goal prior to the Yale Invitational, given the difficulty of Yale's course.

Averaging a score of 327 per day, the Quakers were well within this goal.

As for her goals for the upcoming weeks, Cousounis is a firm believer that practice, though it may not make for perfection, will certainly build confidence.

"I want the team to get prepared mentally," Cousonis said. "Practicing will build confidence, which will allow the players to know what to expect and depend on their skills."

She also stressed the importance of working hard on the team's short game -- including chipping and putting practice.

All the while, Cousounis has her focus on improving the Quakers' scores in order to best some of their top rivals.

"I want to try to move up and beat some of our favorite rivals such as Brown, Bucknell, Georgetown, and Boston College," she said. "Beating Brown would be a great accomplishment for this season."

At the Yale invite -- aside from Penn State -- the teams were all highly competitive. Penn finished above Georgetown and Bucknell.

In the upcoming weeks, however -- including this weekend's Princeton Invitational -- the Quakers will be looking to cut their scores further on lesser-rated courses.

"I think we will continue to improve upon our total score because many of the up-and-coming events are much more player-friendly than the Yale course," Kress said.

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