The men's and women's golf teams are moving into the end of their spring schedules after the women's team came in second over the weekend in its home tournament and the men's team placed fifth, with a 623, at the 36-hole Yale Spring Invitational.
Bruno falls just short
The women's golf team wrapped up its regular season at the Brown Women's Golf Invitational yesterday with a second-place finish, carding a 36-hole 634 for the weekend.
In its first two tournaments of the spring season, the team was paced by the play of Stephanie Hsieh '15 and captain Megan Tuohy '12 in a ninth-place finish at the Low Country Intercollegiate in Hilton Heads, S.C. and a fifth-place finish at the Marsh Landing Invitational in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
"If Megan and Stephanie play well, we play well. They're both our leaders on the golf course," said women's Head Coach Danielle Griffiths. "We can count on them every tournament."
Improving to second place in its home tournament after mediocre performances encapsulates the team's progress, the coach said.
"I was very excited to finish second," Griffiths said. "Of course we wanted to win, but second was a good accomplishment for our team."
The squad was again led by the play of Hsieh, who notched a 152, and Tuohy, who shot a 156 - they both placed within the top 10 individually for the tournament. Heather Arison '12 and Carly Arison '12 shot 162 and 164, respectively. Cassandra Carothers '15 closed out Brown's scoring with a 171.
The tournament was well attended by a range of past players, professors and recruits. Former players Anita Sekar '10 and Sarah Guarascio '11 were present, along with professor of history and Brown's NCAA representative Howard Chudacoff.
"It was a special day to have our players come back and see so much support for the program here at our home tournament," Griffiths said.
Considering the team defeated all of its conference opponents at the Brown Invite - non-Ivy St. John's University was the only team to best Brown - everything bodes well for how the team will stack up against its conference foes in the upcoming Ivy League Championship April 27 - 29.
"We haven't beaten Penn and Yale in the five years I've been here," Griffiths said. "I'm very excited for the momentum."
Bears toppled by wind
The men's squad showed marked improvement at the Yale Invite, despite unfavorable conditions.
"We were very pleased with our first round," said men's Head Coach Michael Hughes. "We were ahead of Yale, who are the defending champions of the Ivy League."
In the fall, Yale outshot the Bears by 72 strokes. This time, Bruno only lost by five strokes.
Captain J.D. Ardell '13, who shot 152 for the day and earned 14th place individually, paced the team. Standout first-year Justin Miller '15 finished with a 155, while Nelson Hargrove '13.5, in his first appearance for Brown, and Kyohei Itamura '14 carded 159 apiece. Peter Callas '14 rounded out the scoring with a 160.
Though the first round placed Brown ahead of Yale on its home course, the wind conditions and exhaustion left the team feeling as though it left shots on the course.
"The conditions worsened a little bit, and we struggled with the wind. It's a hard golf course to walk 36 holes," Hughes said. "The second round was a little bit more disappointing to go backwards."
"Although we didn't end how we wanted, we proved to ourselves we can compete with the top teams in the Ivies," Ardell said.
The team looks to build upon this weekend's strong showing as it moves into Ivy League play. Bruno got its first glimpse of its fellow conference competitors and faced arguably the two strongest teams in the league - Yale and Dartmouth.
"Personally, I think Dartmouth is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition," Hughes said. Ardell echoed his coach's thoughts and identified Dartmouth as the "favorite" to win the league.
The Bears will compete against the entirety of the Ivy League this coming weekend at the Princeton Invitational April 14 and 15. How the team fares will give it an idea of what to expect during the Ivy League Championships to be played April 27-29, along with the women's team.
"We all have things we can practice after this week," Ardell said. "I think we can really show some stuff next week."
"We got out of the cellar last year (at the Ivy League Championships) with our seventh-place finish, and if we could move to the upper half of the conference, it would show the progress the program is making," Hughes said.
