W. Golf breaks team record while braving the elements

It was far from an idyllic golf atmosphere this weekend for the Princeton Invitational at the Springford Country Club.

Torrential rain, winds and cold temperatures quickly established themselves as barriers that the 25-team field would have to overcome.

Not a problem, though, for the Penn women's golf team.

Holding the opening tee-time on a blistery Sunday morning, Penn braved the weather and attacked the field with its best performance in the squad's young history.

"I almost hope for bad conditions, because then we have to go out there and play through it," Penn senior Rachel Slosburg said before the weekend. "I like to think that we are tougher because we can play through it."

Wish granted.

In the Quakers' second major tournament of the season, the team finished fifth overall and managed to battle through the weather to the team's best combined score in school history, a 108-over-par 684.

Stacy Kress' ninth-place finish of 161 headlined the performance for the Red and Blue, leading the the team to a finishe that was five strokes better than in last year's tournament.

The team sat in seventh place for a large portion of day two of the tournament, but battled back to fifth behind solid play by the entire team.

"Considering the weather was not optimal and with all the teams present, I was very excited with the fifth-place finish," Kress said.

Kress, a junior, has been Penn's top finisher in every tournament in the team's young history. She has quickly helped to make the Quakers into a competitive force.

"We hope to continue [this weekend's] trend in the next few tournaments," she said.

Freshman Lauren Eveland contributed to the record breaking performance with the best finish of her young collegiate career, a two-day total of 172.

"I was excited because I put up a decent score," Eveland said. "The level of play in college is a lot different. It's been a major adjustment to the competition."

The fifth annual Princeton Invitational featured three other Ivy League squads -- Brown, Princeton, and Yale -- all of whom finished in the top five. William and Mary finished third.

Tournament winner Anna Jepson sparked the Bulldogs to a four-stroke victory over Princeton in the tournament.

Yale obliterated the competition in day one, finishing eight strokes ahead of the nearest competition, Princeton and William and Mary.

Yet a stellar second day put Princeton into contention going into the final rounds. Led by Esty Dwek's second day finish of 74, the Tigers closed to within four strokes but couldn't get any closer.

Obstacles seem to be almost an afterthought to this young Penn golf team as it sets out in the early season. After capturing a year-old school record in a tournament where one full day was shrouded with ill-timed weather, the Quakers still managed to perform their best -- literally grabbing the school record.

Rain or shine, the Quakers have shown that they are bound to improve.

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