After a three-week hiatus from tournament play, the Penn women's golf team is ready to get back on the course.
This weekend the Quakers travel to New Seabury, Mass., for their third and final tournament of the fall season, the Harvard University Invitational. They are ecstatic to put their training into action.
"We're very excited for this weekend," junior captain Melissa Aylor said. "We're excited to get back into the competitive spirit. We're very prepared and excited for the tournament."
The last three weeks, free of competitive play and full of training, have been helpful in the development of each player's game. Penn coach Francis Vaughn said that this tournament is a chance for each member of the team to show how she has improved since the beginning of the season.
"We have been able to practice and the ladies have been able to work on the things they might have had trouble with in the first two tournaments," Vaughn said.
This weekend marks the conclusion of freshman Stephanie Stamas' first season with the team. Aylor continues to be impressed with the play of the lone freshman, and is especially pleased with the way Stamas has managed the psychological pressures of the game.
"I think that she has improved a lot, very much so in the mental aspects of the game," Aylor said. "She's much more comfortable at tournaments and has matured a lot."
The Quakers continue to search for consistency as they look to build upon the first two tournaments of the fall season, where they placed seventh at the Princeton Invitational and sixth at the Yale Invitational.
"Consistency is what we all strive for," Vaughn said. "I think that's a great ambition for any of the facets of the game. Consistency is the key to success -- that's why you practice."
Aylor looks to carry the past two weeks of training into the weekend tournament.
"If I am just more consistent, eliminating very bad holes, I'll be very happy with my game," Aylor said. "I don't want to be too concerned with past shots. I need to take one shot at a time."
Moving into the last event of the fall, Vaughn is especially looking forward to seeing how each member of the team uses the practice sessions and tournament experience to her advantage.
"This is our last event of the fall, so it is exciting to see the season wind down and see how good they can be," Vaughn said.
"It would be nice to see the season end on a good note and see their hard work in practice pay off in higher consistency and results."
