Once the Penn women's golf team took third at the Rutgers Invitational last spring, the Quakers were determined to settle for nothing less upon revisiting the course this weekend.
And after Saturday's first round 334 left Penn in fourth place out of 17 teams -- a mere five strokes out of first -- it looked as if the Quakers were on the verge of doing just that.
But poor weather conditions, led to a Penn- team 339 in the final round and a sixth-place finish overall.
"We were really expecting to do as well as last year, if not better," sophomore Valerie Wong said. "We were kind of disappointed that we didn't finish as high as we had hoped."
Though Wong was disappointed with the Quakers overall placing, it was she who brought home Penn's top score. Wong finished 17th overall in individual scoring, shooting a first round 79, before carding an 87 in the final round.
Senior captain Stacy Kress and sophomore Melissa Aylor, who have consistently been top assets to the team thus far, also helped the Red and Blue. Kress and Aylor both carded scores of 170 to attain 30th place finishes overall.
Kress bettered her first round score of 88 to conclude with an 82, while Aylor carded an 81 on day one, followed by an 89 on day two.
Shooting a team-score 673, Penn finished just 14 strokes behind Georgetown, who earned the crown with a two-round score of 659. The Eagles followed, carding a 660, while St. John's, Rutgers, and Long Island finished merely a few strokes ahead of the Quakers with respective scores of 661, 663 and 665.
Penn could only focus on its shortcomings following the tournament.
"After the first day, our hopes were high and we felt that we could place well," Wong said. "We thought we could easily make up those strokes.
"But the weather on the second day was not conducive to playing such a great round."
The Rutgers' invite will be the Quakers final invitational of the fall season. Though the Quakers were scheduled to finish the season this weekend at the Georgetown Invitational, the tourney has been cancelled due to the recent sniper incidents.
The cancellation forces Penn to forego a final shot at picking up a top finish in the fall season. Still, the Quakers prefer safety over any trophy.
"I think that it is better for us to be safe because the sniper hasn't been caught yet," Wong said. "Our decision not to go to the tournament -- had we gone to the tournament it would've given us a chance to take home some hardware -- is based on safety."
As such, Penn will not be playing again until March, but will continue to train as long as the weather permits.
Once the weather gives way, however, the Quakers will commence training indoors, making special use of the new golf simulator in the David S. Pottruck Health and Fitness Center.
"I think the new indoor facility will be amazing," Wong said. "They have measures of how far you can carry the ball and how far the ball rolls."
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