Despite facing its strongest competition so far this season, including arch-rival Princeton, the Penn men's golf team finished seventh of 21 teams in this weekend's Navy Invitational.
Senior co-captains Chad Perman and Peyton Wallace led the way, finishing 11th and 16th, respectively, of 110 players.
Navy and Florida-Johnson & Wales tied for first place with a two day score of 581 -- 15 shots better than the Red and Blue.
The Quakers were tied for fourth place after Saturday's round. Tougher, windier conditions contributed to Penn's drop to seventh on Sunday.
"Overall, I'm pleased with the performance," Penn coach Heath Davidson said. "There is certainly still room for improvement but we are moving in the right direction."
The tournament was held in Annapolis, Md., at the United States Naval Academy Golf Course. Penn's starting five included Perman, Wallace, senior Endel Liias, junior Adam Squires and freshman Derek Rogers.
"Senior leadership definitely came through this weekend," Davidson said.
Liias finished 26th with a two-day score of 150.
All teams fielded five players to play 18 holes both Saturday and Sunday -- the four lowest scores were then added together to count for the team total.
The two-day event was the first Penn saw of Ivy League-rival Princeton for the first time this spring. The Tigers finished 12th, 21 shots behind Penn.
"Beating Princeton gives us confidence for the Ivy Championships," Davidson added.
"Talent-wise we are at least as good as them, we feel pretty good about our chances at the Ivies," Wallace said.
The Quakers' coach and captains also commented that Yale has shown signs of providing some tough competition for the Ivy title. But in Penn's mind, it is the best team in the league.
"At least in our eyes, we are the team to beat," Wallace said.
The team hopes for good weather this week so it can practice before this weekend's Princeton Invitational.
"We still need to work on putting, and I'm disappointed we didn't capitalize better on our approach shots this past weekend," Davidson said.
"We are in a better position to do well in the Ivies than we were in the fall," the Quakers' coach said.
Following the Princeton Invitational, the Quakers will have two weeks to prepare for the Ivy Championships.
