Senior captain Meredith Johnson '98 finished her collegiate golf career in style with impressive finishes in the team's final two competitions of the season.
Last weekend in a dual-meet with Harvard she and her teammates topped the Crimson in a three-point Nassau match, earning a convincing 10.5-1.5 win during the day.
Johnson, Courtney Dill '99 and Lauren Epstein '00 all won their head-to-head battles with their opponents and emerged with three points each. Cara Mathews '99 split her points, collecting one and a half on the day.
Coach Kevin Gibson praised his team's efforts and noted that Dill came from behind for her win.
"That was a good match for her. She was down with two holes to go on the back nine," Gibson said. "She won 17 with a par and birdied 18 to win the match."
Epstein was the day's top finisher, shooting a 72, one under par.
"It was a good way to finish the season," Gibson said. "Everybody played well and had a good round. You just hope to get better every match and it is great to finish the season playing well."
Johnson, meanwhile, was Dartmouth's low finisher at the Northeast Golf Championship in Amherst, Massachusetts two weekends ago. She fired rounds of 88 and 83 for a two-day total of 171, good for a tie for ninth place, and was named to the All-Tournament team for her efforts.
Epstein ended the tournament one shot back from Johnson with 172 (88-84), missing the top 10 in the tournament by one shot for the second straight year.
As a team, Dartmouth was sixth out of 13 schools with a two-day combined total of 735. Princeton shot 670 to take top team honors. Hartford finished nine shots back from Princeton with a score of 679, good for second place.
Also representing the Big Green were Mathews (93-100), Dill (97-108) and Naomi Kim '01 (95-104).
Princeton's Julia Allison was the individual story of the tournament shooting a two under par 70 on Sunday.
As is the custom, the first round of the tournament was held Saturday at Amherst's Hickory Ridge course and the second round at Mount Holyoke's The Orchards. The Dartmouth squad plays both courses on a yearly basis, and the women were enthusiastic about the familiar setup.
"It is a great tournament, and we get to play two fantastic golf courses," Johnson said. "When you have played a course a few times before a tournament, you can go through each hole in your head and think about where you want to hit each shot."
"Meredith and Lauren both played well on Sunday," Mathews said. "It was a fantastic finish for Meredith to make the top ten in her last tournament as a collegiate golfer. She had to card a great score on the second day and she did it."
Epstein lauded Johnson's performance as well.
"She had the added pressure of this being her last collegiate tournament, and she came through with a great round in nasty weather to break into the top 10 and make the All-Tourney team. The whole team was happy to see her end with such a great performance."
Johnson said that the eighteenth hole at Mount Holyoke stuck out in her mind as one she will always remember.
"I knew I was playing pretty well and I couldn't believe my collegiate career was ending," Johnson said. "As I came up to my last putt, I remember thinking 'Wow, am I glad this is only a foot so that I can't miss it.' I didn't want to have to think about a missed putt in my last tournament."
Johnson's impressive outing in the second round on Sunday came despite a freezing rain that pelted the players throughout play during the entire day. The rain soaked The Orchards, limiting the rolling of the ball and making what was already a long course even more lengthy.
"Once again the weather was definitely not ideal, but that seems to be the norm this season," Epstein said. "The first day the winds were around 30 miles per hour which made playing and judging your shots very difficult."
Johnson said that alterations made to the Mount Holyoke course added to the difficulties the team had on the second day of action.
"They had most of our tees moved way back and when you have to hit driver, 3 wood and still can't reach a par 4, it becomes mentally exhausting."
Johnson, the lone senior on the team, said she felt that the squad made great strides over the course of the year.
"I think that the team has shown some real dedication this season," Johnson commented.
"We have all practiced more, and we seem more determined to do well in each successive tournament."
