Women's Golf impresses at Princeton invite

The Penn women's golf team faced several opponents over the weekend -- 16 other teams and windy, harsh conditions.

But it wasn't a problem for the Quakers.

Stacy Kress led Penn to a sixth-place finish at the Princeton Invitational this weekend with a team-score of 667. This followed a strong season-opener at Yale the week before.

The Quakers did not let unfriendly weather conditions stand in the way of attaining their goals.

Though there is still room for improvement, the tournament marks another positive stepping stone for the Quakers.

"I think we could have done better," Penn freshman Kim Thompson said. "But considering the conditions on the first day, we played decently overall.

"We were very pleased to beat the Princeton Orange team."

The Tigers, who hosted the Princeton, N.J., event had two teams compete -- a Black team and an Orange team.

Princeton's greens are significantly flatter than those of Yale, providing the golfers with more chances to lower their score. However, the particularly narrow course makes it more difficult to recover from a poor tee shot.

Penn coach Jane Cousounis was once again pleased with the Quakers' performance.

"We had hoped to finish in the top-five, so we're right in there. I still believe that we will move up to get into the Brown, Princeton area," she said.

The Bears won the event with a team score of 614. Princeton was second with 628, and William & Mary was third with 657. The Bears' Elizabeth Carpenter won the tournament with a one-over par 145.

At the end of day one, the Quakers stood in seventh place with a score of 335, just four shots behind the top-five. With a score of 79, Kress, a senior, stood in fifth place individually, while sophomore Melissa Aylor also finished her first round in the top-10 with a score of 80.

Sophomore Lauren Eveland and freshman Kim Thompson contributed to the team's score, accumulating 88 strokes each.

"I was proud of the way Stacy stayed in her game and grinded out a 79 in spite of the winds," said Cousounis.

The Quakers bettered their score on the second day by three strokes, securing their position ahead of Princeton's Orange Team, Bucknell, St. Francis and Richmond. The Quakers ended day two just one stroke behind fourth-place St. John's.

They now have their sights set on topping perennial Ivy League favorites Brown and Princeton in the near future.

If the Quakers continue to surmount the inevitable obstacles they face, the Red and Blue will undoubtedly see enhanced results at the approaching Eastern College Athletic Conference tourney.

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