The Daily Pennsylvanian is a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

1011_han5
100504 University of Pennsylvania - Women's Golf Credit: Hunter Martin

Heading into the Richmond Invitational, the Penn women’s golf team was having a season of almosts.

Having notched a fourth place finish, a pair of third place finishes and a runner-up at the Yale Invitational in September, the Quakers had one last chance to earn a win.

Yesterday, they finally broke through. A two-week layoff had no effect on the Quakers, as they took care of business at the 54-hole Spider Invitational in Richmond, Virginia.

Penn blew away the field, finishing an impressive 30 strokes ahead of runner-up Bradley and 41 shots ahead of host Richmond University.

After falling just short of an individual first place finish in their previous tournaments, the Quakers also took the top three individual spots.

Freshman Rui Li finished tied for third with a 72-73-80--225, freshman Michelle Lee came in second carding a 76-73-74--223 and sophomore Isabel Han placed first overall with a 72-77-71--220.

“Two of our goals for the fall season were to win a tournament as a team and we wanted one of the team members to win the tournament individually, and we accomplished both of those things at Richmond,” coach Mark Anderson said.

Meanwhile, he praised Han, who is establishing herself as a reliable force for the Quakers after a breakout freshman season.

“Isabel is having a great fall season,” Anderson said “She has lowered her stroke average four shots from last year. She’s been near the lead in almost every tournament that we have played, and I’m really proud with how she has played this year.”

According to Han, her strongest attribute during this week’s tournament was her ability to remain focused.

“I was able to execute shot-by-shot and not get ahead of myself,” she said.

As the tournament was the last of the fall, Anderson and the defending Ivy champion Quakers have a lot to look forward to when the full spring season rolls around.

Han concurred, adding that “we have a bunch of talented girls on the team and we have so much potential. We are really excited for the spring.”

After so many almosts that plagued the beginning of the year, Richmond was the team’s final chance to exorcise those demons, and they took full advantage of that opportunity.

Han indicated that ending the fall on a high note was a big confidence booster for the team.

“Expect great things from us over the spring,” Han said. “Maybe even another Ivy League Championship.”

Comments powered by Disqus

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.