Crimson Women Win Sixth Straight

Confronted with its final test before next week’s Ivy League Championship, the Harvard women’s golf team passed with flying colors.

Both avenging last season’s second-place finish and marking its sixth-consecutive victory, the Crimson shot a two-day total of 603 to take home the top prize in the Roar-EE Invitational, hosted by Columbia University at Spook Rock Golf Course in Suffern, N.Y.

“I’m happy with the team score overall, because we had all the Ivy schools represented there,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said. “Not that it’s any indication of what will happen next week, but it’s nice to do well in comparison to the other Ivy schools that we’ll be playing against when it matters even more next week. On the team side, I’m not displeased at all with what happened.”

The Crimson nabbed the team title by 10 strokes over Penn, which finished with a 37-over-par 613, while Yale’s 619 was enough for third. Four other Ivy schools—including Princeton, last year’s Roar-EE Invitational winner—rounded out the 14-squad field.

Harvard opened the tournament with a Friday score of 300 on the 6,061-yard, par-72 course, besting the Bulldogs’ efforts by six strokes. The second day of competition proved tougher for the Crimson, which closed things out with a 303.

Crimson junior Mia Kabasakalis led the entire 75-member field, tying Columbia senior Nancy Shon atop the individual leaderboard at 148.

Once again Harvard’s top player in the Roar-EE Invitational, Kabasakalis improved upon last year’s fifth-place overall finish by firing a 72-76.

“My game was a little bit different this weekend than it normally is,” the Alameda, Calif. native said. “I hit more greens than I usually do...[Saturday] I was getting a little frustrated because I had many more putts than normal. I had 36 putts, and then none of them were really dropping...Thankfully, I was striking the ball pretty well, so that made up for it.”

“She had a very good fall, and then her spring, she’s been trying to find it,” Rhoads said of Kabasakalis. “[She’s been] showing signs of where she needs to be, but not quite there yet, so for her to get a good result this week is really, really good and encouraging.”

Not far behind was sophomore teammate Jane Lee, who shook off a rough outing last weekend to take fourth place overall.

After a solid first round of 76, Lee made 12 pars in a row on the way to a second-day 74.

“I just felt really comfortable, and I felt like I could score if I wanted to,” Lee said. “I felt in control of everything, which is a nice feeling to have, because I feel like all my work during the season paid off.”

Lee credited her second-year improvement to a progression in her mental game.

“Last year, I wasn’t really sure if I could keep up with the level of college golf, and I was just really uncertain, and that showed in my games sometimes,” Lee said. “I think this year I’ve realized that the level of my game is good enough to really be competitive...it’s a really good feeling.”

Rounding out the stellar team showing was Crimson team captain Claire Sheldon, who tied for 11th with a final tally of 153. Freshman Chloe Altchek was just one stroke behind in 14th place, and senior Sarah Harvey tied for 15th place at 155.

Standout freshman Katie Sylvan and sophomore Christine Cho—the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year—elected not to travel this weekend in hopes of being better prepared for the multi-day Ancient Eight championship the following week.

But Altchek and Lee were more than capable fill-ins for the pair, as Lee came away with her career-best performance in a multi-day event.

“We have good depth, and we can count on any of our top seven to play in our top five each week,” Rhoads said. “We’ve had some good individual performances, but we’ve also had a solid five-plus people who can put up a score...I’m proud of that. Because golf is such an individual game, it’s easy to get caught up in what you’re doing. Our team really thinks of itself as a team.”

As his squad prepares to string together a third-straight Ivy League title, Rhoads has ensured that his players are in the proper state of mind.

“Even though we try not to think about other teams, it’s nice to know that we’re definitely ready and able to compete at that level where we can win,” Lee said. “This tournament is pretty good in testing how we compete together as a team...It’s reaffirming our belief that we can win, and that if we do everything right, we have a really good chance of winning.”

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.