SPORTS BRIEF: Women’s golf team captures second place at Princeton Invitational

Princeton captured the number one spot on its home course, leaving the Harvard women’s golf team in second place out of 13 competing teams at the Princeton Women’s Invitational this weekend at Springdale Golf Club.

The Crimson shot a 612 as a team in two rounds of competition over the course of the weekend, 18 strokes behind Princeton’s leading score of 594.

St. John’s rounded out the top three with a score of 640.

Leading the way for Harvard was sophomore Emily Balmert, whose two-day total of 153 was good enough to earn her a tie for the sixth-best individual score of the tournament.

Sophomore Ali Bode and junior Jessica Hazlett were right behind her with scores of 154, earning them a share of ninth place among individual players.

Freshmen Sarah Harvey and Claire Sheldon rounded out the scoring for the Crimson with totals of 157.

Harvey posted a round of 73 in the first half of the tournament, marking the best individual performance of the event for Harvard, an impressive feat for a newcomer to the team.

The Crimson closed out the first day of the tournament with a 13-stroke deficit to overcome, but the gap only widened during the event’s second day.

With every Princeton round during the second day of competition falling in the 70’s, Harvard stood little chance of standing its ground, let alone erasing the Tiger lead.

The Crimson will face another Ivy rival on the road next weekend, traveling to New Haven to participate in the Yale Invitational.