Another tourney, another win

It's lonely at the top, and the women's golf team knows it. For the second weekend in a row, the Tigers claimed a team victory, this time at Penn State University's Blue Course during the three-round Nittany Lion Invitational. Junior Susannah Aboff was Princeton's highest finisher in second place, one stroke off the leader.

The Tigers placed first by an impressive 15 strokes better than their nearest competitor, the University of Maryland. Princeton led the 14-team pack throughout all rounds of play, starting with a six-stroke lead over Maryland and extending it to 15 by the end of the third round.

"It was tougher than last weekend," Aboff said. "Penn State is usually pretty good and Maryland got the regional bid over us last spring, so we really wanted to beat them."

A week after placing first at their annual home tournament, the Tigers were eager to continue their winning streak. The fall schedule boasts four tournaments for Princeton, and the Tigers have always done well with their fall season in past years. Last year, Princeton dropped no lower than second place during its fall showings, and it is currently poised to beat that record this year.

"The fall season counts in terms of [needing] to beat the teams that might have a chance of a bid over us in the spring," Aboff said. "Everyone is coming off the summer, so we just try to keep up our training. You feel like the fall season doesn't mean as much, but it does."

During the first two rounds of play Sunday, not only was Princeton first on the leader board, but Aboff was also on top. She scored an under-par 71 and two-over 74 which vaulted her to a three-shot lead over Western Michigan's Laura Bavaird. Aboff was not able to hold onto her lead, though, as a final round of 79 left her one stroke short of beating out Bavaird for the individual title. Bavaird's 75 allowed her to make up the three-shot deficit.

"I played well in the beginning and kept it up on Sunday," Aboff said. "The rest of the team played pretty well, too. Everyone shot better scores than last weekend. We had long 10-hour days out on the course, and I think we are all in pretty good shape so we didn't die out there," Aboff said.

Junior Marlowe Boukis also had a very strong showing, coming in two shots behind teammate Aboff to place third. Boukis started out the weekend with a 79 but improved upon her score every round, finishing off with an even 72 on Monday.

"A highlight was [on] Monday when Boukis shot 72 and no one else had anything great going," Aboff said. "Her scores definitely kept up the momentum. Marlowe chipped in two times in a row, so it was nice to have someone making up for my game."

The rest of the Tigers on the five-woman team placed in the top 20. Freshman Kate Scarpetta tied for 12th, senior Annika Welander tied for 15th and sophomore Michelle Grilli placed 19th.

Host Penn State came in third, 25 strokes off Princeton's lead. In fourth was Western Michigan, followed by James Madison and Xavier.

The Tigers' four-tournament fall schedule continues this weekend at the Johnie Imes Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri.