Harvard Captures First Team Victory

After falling just short of the team title and claiming runner-up honors in its last tournament, the Harvard women’s golf team claimed its first victory of the season over the weekend, winning the Yale Fall Intercollegiate tournament, which took place at The Course at Yale.

The Lady Crimson played two rounds of golf on Saturday, and with the second day of competition being cancelled on Sunday due to early morning rain and a wet afternoon forecast, Harvard’s first-day efforts were good enough to bring the team trophy home to Cambridge, repeating the team’s finish from a year ago.

“Last year’s competition was shortened to 18 holes,” captain Claire Sheldon said, “so even though we were not able to compete on Sunday, it was good to have the tournament based on 36 holes this year.”

The Crimson shot a tournament-best 299 in the second round of play on Saturday to finish nine strokes ahead of the Lady Quakers from Penn, who entered the second round of the day 10 strokes ahead of Harvard.

“We feel great about our efforts this weekend,” junior Mia Kabasakalis said. “Saturday was a long day, but after the first round, we knew we had left some strokes out there. We were able to stay calm and make some adjustments after that first round in order to finish the day well.”

The third-year golfer from Alameda, California did not need to make many adjustments after pacing the Crimson with a five-over par 76 in the first round of competition. But Kabasakalis did indeed improve in her second tour of the Elis’ home course, shooting a team-best two-over par 73 to finish up Saturday’s play.

“My game has been going well,” Kabasakalis, who placed second overall, said. “I was able to drop some putts this weekend and hit the fairways and greens, really just taking one shot at a time.”

Rookie Katie Sylvan continued her fine freshman campaign with rounds of 77 and 76 over the 36 holes contested on Saturday, good enough to tie for sixth place individually. Sheldon finished just a shot back in a tie for tenth place with a total of 154 over the two rounds. A pair of sophomores from California rounded out the Harvard contingent, as Christine Cho shot 156 on the weekend for 17th place, and Jane Lee tied for 22nd with a total score of 158.

“Our team is all about the process,” Kabasakalis said. “We need to keep doing what we have been doing and we will continue to perform well.”

In claiming its first team victory of its fall campaign, the Crimson bested a quartet of Ancient Eight rivals, including the aforementioned Quakers and squads from Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth.

“It is always nice to compete against our peers,” Sheldon said, “teams that have similar commitments to us and are held to the same obligations academically. It is also a great confidence builder to be able to beat other Ivy League teams, as we will be facing them a lot more come the spring part of our schedule.”

Kabasakalis echoed her captain’s sentiments towards other Ancient Eight foes.

“Penn gave us a run for our money, but we were able to rebound in the second round and end up on top,” the Quincy resident said. “If we continue to focus on our own play, we will continue to perform well.”

Up next for the two-time defending Ivy League champions is a tournament in Bethlehem, Penn. hosted by Lehigh University in three weeks.

“The two weekends off from competition will be a more than welcome break,” Sheldon said. “We will be able to catch up on our school work and really settle in after being on the road the last three weekends.”

The Lehigh Invitational will be Harvard’s last competition of the fall, as weather usually inhibits play any later in the calendar year.

“We will begin out-of-season training after the Lehigh tournament,” Sheldon said. “This is when we can really work on making changes in our swings and in our games.”

While some tinkering hear and there may improve their games, head coach Kevin Rhoads might not want to make many changes in his Lady Crimson’s swings after performances like this past weekend’s.

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.