The women's golf team beat Ivy rival Princeton this weekend and finished third in the Lady Eagle Invitational hosted by Boston College at the Oyster Hills Golf Course on Cape Cod.
A 27-hole, combined score of 545 was low enough to allow the Big Green to top the Tigers for the first time in years.
The University of Hartford won the meet with a score of 516. Rutgers took runner-up honors, shooting 523. Princeton finished in fourth place with 552 and host Boston College captured the fifth spot with a combined score of 553.
Lauren Epstein '00 turned in a very solid individual performance to help lead her team to the high finish, firing off a two-day total score of (85-43) 128. Princeton's Julie Allison took medalist honors with a score of (80-43) 123.
Captain Meredith Johnson '98 finished just out of the top 10, shooting (90-43) 133 while Samantha Sommers '99 shot (93-48) 141. Cara Mathews '99 and Courtney Dill '99 both shot under 150 to round out the Dartmouth scoring.
Johnson praised the play of both the team and Epstein, a second-year player who has come nowhere near a sophomore slump this year.
"Lauren is really playing great and the rest of the team is starting to really come into it," Johnson said.
The third place Dartmouth finish seems even more impressive when viewed in light of the obstacles the linksters have faced already this season. Their home course, the Hanover Country Club, is still too wet to open, leaving the10-day long spring trip as the only practice time the squad has seen since October.
As is typical for a New England college golfer, the women played in less than ideal conditions on the Cape. The tourney was shortened to nine holes on the second day due to an 11 degree wind chill. Saturday's weather was not much better, as the wind chill was 18 degrees and the temperature hovered just above freezing, making it hard for the women to stay loose.
Sommers said that she felt the weather adversely affected her performance.
"I always have a hard time putting and chipping in cold weather because my hands get so cold, Sommers said. "I have no feel, and it makes it hard to judge the distances."
"We were lucky to be the first team out on Saturday because as the day went on, it became colder and windier," Mathews said.
"Mentally, the team has begun to prepare itself for the Ivy Championships to be held in two weeks," she said. "The success in the Lady Eagle Invitational will be a base to build in practice. The victory over Princeton was a big step in that direction."
"Not having practice takes away a lot of your confidence in golf. You constantly questions shots that should normally be routine," Sommers said. "We were very pleased to have finished third, especially with the harsh conditions. I think this was a good confidence boost."
"The tournament sported some good competition but I think we were less intimidated than last week since it was teams we normally face," Johnson said. " I think that the next two weeks, provided we can get in some good outdoor practice, will really help us prepare for the Ivy Championship."
