The Penn women's golf team defeated Columbia on Saturday at the Eastern Collegiate Athletics Conference Championships in Harrisburg, Pa.
The Quakers posted an 18-hole aggregate score of 327 to outpace the Lions' 349.
Senior Lauren Eveland and junior Kim Thompson had the best rounds of the day, each shooting impressive 18-round totals of 80 on the par 73 course.
Senior captain Melissa Aylor shot an 83, and sophomore Stephanie Stamas finished her round with an 11-over-par 84, enough to defeat Columbia's formidable foursome by 22 strokes, an impressive margin of victory.
The tournament was initially supposed to include other teams in the ECAC, but after these teams announced that they would not be able to make it, Penn golf director Francis Vaughn and Columbia coach Al Carlson decided to hold a two-way match between the Quakers and the Lions.
As soon as the Red and Blue took the lead early, they never let up. The Quakers led Columbia heading into the 15th hole and did not look back. The team kept the momentum strong until the very end, which was the key to victory.
"I was very happy with the way they closed it out," Vaughn said. "They did much better on the last four holes in this one than they did on the last four at the Princeton tournament a couple of weeks back."
The win over Columbia caps a highly successful fall season. At the Princeton Fall Invitational, held on Sept. 26 at Springdale Country Club in Princeton, N.J., Penn finished fifth out of 16 teams.
This impressive finish in a highly competitive field proceeded Penn's win at the Lehigh Fall Invitational on Sept. 16, when, with only four athletes, the Quakers managed to win their first tournament of the year.
"I am very satisfied with the way they've played this fall," Vaughn said. "I'm looking forward to the start of the spring, where I hope we'll have another successful season."
