Despite first-place individual honors on the women's side and third-place individual honors on the men's, both the women's and men's golf teams fell to superior Yale squads at the Ivy League Championships this weekend.
The men's team, which has suffered through a variety of obstacles throughout the year, relinquished the Ivy title to the Elis and finished in third behind Yale and Penn.
The women fared slightly better, with sophomore Avery Kiser winning her second consecutive league title. Unfortunately, Kiser's medalist position would not be enough to help Princeton defeat Yale, and the Tigers posted a second place showing.
Kiser, who now holds both the 2002 and 2003 Ivy and ECAC individual championship titles, dominated play at Ridgewood Country Club throughout the weekend. Breaking out to a commanding lead in the first round of play Saturday, she maintained the top spot throughout the entire tournament. Kiser finished her final round at even par and a three round 79-74-73.
Despite Kiser's play, the Tigers ended the Saturday round 20 strokes behind Yale. Princeton turned it up in the last round, however, shooting the lowest combined score of the tournament. The Tigers posted a 309 for Sunday's round, 10 strokes ahead of Yale and 22 strokes ahead of Brown. Unfortunately, these last-round gains were unable to extricate the team from the hole they dug themselves early Saturday.
"Too little too late," women's head coach Eric Stein said. "We just lacked the overall scoring consistency this weekend to win the title."
The Elis' victory marked their second in as many years.
Sophomore Meg Nakamura finished the tournament with a solid fifth-place showing, which would have no doubt been much better if not for a second round 84. Freshman Emma Stachowicz tied for eighth with a combined three round total of 244 after an excellent third round 76. Junior Esty Dwek and sophomore Taryn Haladay rounded out the Tigers' scoring with a 251 and a 254, respectively.
The Princeton men's team also fell victim to the Elis this weekend, ending what initially seemed to have the makings of a great golf season. After their season-opening tournament win at the George Washington Invitational in March, the Tigers have struggled through the rest of the spring. The season culminated with the Ivies, and the loss marks the end of Princeton's three-year reign as Ivy League golf champions.
After 27 holes at the Metedeconck Golf Club the Tigers were in striking distance, trailing Yale by only three strokes. Senior Cassidy Traub led the team, and finished the first round with a 75, good for second place. Sophomore Creighton Page was also among the top 10 on Saturday, one stroke behind Traub.
Traub entered the last nine holes of the final day tied for the lead. Unfortunately, Traub finished the tournament with a less than stellar bogey followed up by a devastating triple bogey. He ended the tournament in third place.
"Needless to say I was extremely disappointed," Traub said. "Still, as upset as I was about not winning individually, I was more disappointed that our team didn't win. That's what we came to do."
Yale gave up no ground on the last day of the tournament, finishing the weekend 11 strokes ahead of its closest competition, Penn, and 18 strokes ahead of the Tigers.
"We just weren't prepared to play," head coach Will Green said. "All five of our players poured their hearts into every shot, but mistakes proved costly as we were unable to avoid the big numbers."
The Tigers have been unable to avoid big numbers all spring as they saw their scoring average rise to 310 from 292 in the fall. Having played only three competitive rounds of golf in five weeks, the Tigers were simply unprepared for Ivies.
Along with Traub's third-place finish, Page finished tied for 10th with a 234 while senior Nat Hoopes tied for 12th with a 235. Junior Greg Johnson and freshman Jason Gerken rounded out Princeton's scoring with scores of 245 and 246, respectively.
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