W. Golf Places Sixth at ECACs

Rain, darkness and a truncated course conspired to halt the momentum of the Harvard women’s golf team Sunday night at the ECAC Division I Women’s Golf Championship.

Fresh off a win at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational two weeks ago, the Crimson struggled to find consistency in the treacherous conditions, tying with St. Francis for sixth in the tournament with a final score of 510 (338-172). A total of 14 teams competed in the event.

Princeton took top honors, narrowly defeating second place Brown by one stroke, 467-468. The Tigers’ Avery Kiser took home top individual honors with a score of 111.

Inclement weather and darkness caused the end of the first round to be postponed until early Sunday morning. The second round was halved, resulting in a 27-hole course.

“We didn’t play our best, but we didn’t play badly,” said freshman Caitlin Hicks.

Hicks, playing in her first tournament as a member of the Crimson, was one of the top finishers on the team with a final score of 126 (83-43).

The players said that the tournament suffered from poor planning.

“We had to finish the first round at 7 a.m., got a two hour break, and then started the second round,” said sophomore Carrie Baizer.

In addition to the strenuous conditions, the Crimson was faced with the challenge of playing the course blind, as the team arrived too late on Friday to walk the course.

“It would definitely have been nice to have seen it,” Baizer said.

A tough course in pleasant weather, the narrow fairways of the Links at Gettysburg were compounded with the obstacle of standing water.

“It was beautiful and unique but really wet,” Hicks said.

Although overall Harvard did not produce stellar scores at this tournament, the team says it remains proud of its previous play and optimistic about the upcoming spring.

“It’s not setting us back because we’ve done so well this season,” Baizer said.

This tournament concludes the Crimson’s fall competition, save for a final scrimmage at Yale this Saturday. The team will resume play following its annual Spring Break trip.

—Contributing writer Lisa Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.