W. Golf | Lions and wind gusts and cold, oh my

The Penn women's golf team thought they had finally edged past one of their top Ivy rivals, Columbia, at the annual Hoya Invitational yesterday at The Members Club at Four Streams course in Beallsville, Md.

But by some stroke of fate - and some good strokes from the Lions - the Quakers were leapfrogged on the leaderboard.

"I think we finished above Columbia," junior Catherine Elliot said at the close of the Invitational, which started Monday and ended yesterday, "which was exciting because Columbia has traditionally been a pretty strong team - stronger than us."

Unfortunately for Penn, Elliot was wrong.

The Quakers finished eighth of 15 teams with a score of 975 (111-over par) for three rounds, and Columbia came in sixth with 971 (107-over par).

Princeton, the only other Ivy team at the event, was the runner-up behind Nova Southeastern, the No. 1 Division II team, which won the event with a score of 916 (52-over par).

Despite bitter cold weather and gusty winds, Penn was tied for fifth place after Monday's first round with Richmond. Columbia trailed the Quakers in ninth place.

"I think everybody hung on and grinded out every shot and really thought about the wind and how it was going to affect us," junior captain Lisette Vitter said. "I think we really stuck to it."

Coach Mark Anderson said that his players "did a great job [Monday] playing 36 holes in cold and windy conditions.

"They played well today, it's just a couple teams played a little better than we did and moved ahead of us."

The top finisher for Penn was Vitter, who tied for 14th overall with a score of 238 (83, 78, 77) with Columbia's Jasmine Chean. Freshman Tiffany Cheung finished second for the Quakers and tied for 19th overall with a score of 240 (83, 77, 80). She was the only other Penn golfer to finished in the top 20.

The other three Quakers - Elliot, junior Meredith Kotwoski, and sophomore Michelle Winters - finished 34th, 40th and 73rd, respectively.

"They were a little more consistent," Anderson said of his golfers compared to their last competition. "Everyone's started to get the rust off and get more comfortable with their games, but we're still nowhere near where we can be."

The tricky course was especially trying for the Quakers. A lot of the holes were "guarded," said Vitter, with deep bunkers and water.

Anderson said he will continue to stress "practicing and fine-tuning" in the weeks to come. Certainly, the Quakers will need to be in top form for their next tournament - the Columbia Invitational April 17 and 18 - to get the best of the Lions.

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