A program still in its infancy, the Penn women's golf team has yet to win an Ivy League title. But coach Francis Vaughn says his players have their eyes set on doing exactly that this season.
If the Quakers are going to show such a dramatic improvement from last fall - when they never finished higher than sixth - they will have to do it with a young and shorthanded roster.
Two members of the fall's squad, sisters Jaclyn and Nicole Kouch, have opted not to play this spring, citing personal reasons. Vaughn said their roster spots are still available if they choose to return.
In the meantime, though, the Red and Blue will only have five golfers on their roster, and they will have to rely on two of their younger members - sophomores Lisette Vitter and Meredith Kotowski. The pair consistently finished with Penn's top two scores during 2006-2007 and both players competed in all seven tournaments last year.
"Our goal, as always, is to win our first Ivy League title," Vaughn said. "The team played fairly well during the fall season, and we had some good individual performances. I think the spring will show some improvements, and hopefully we can peak during the Ivy League Championships."
Captained by senior Meg Bender, Penn's team will begin the spring season with the First Market Bank Invitational in Williamsburg, Va. this weekend.
While the Quakers compete in the tournament every year, Vaughn said it often has one of the strongest fields of competition, with usually 15 to 18 teams competing. For the past two years, the Quakers have finished 13th at the tournament, and their best showing was a 12th-place finish in 2005.
This weekend's tournament will be a good measuring stick for how the team has progressed from last year.
To help meet this first challenge, the golfers carried their clubs cross-country for their spring trip to California.
"Everybody always tries their hardest," Vitter said. "Over spring break we played every day in California to prepare for the upcoming tournaments, and I think we can definitely play better than in the fall or last year."
Vaughn echoed those feelings, saying that "you could tell they came ready to play. It takes some getting used to carrying your bag for 18 holes, but that's why we have the spring trip."
And, at least in Kotowski's view, the five-woman roster could even be an advantage.
"I think that our team has all of the talent and dedication that we need to win the Ivy League," she wrote in an e-mail. "Because of our small size we are a very close-knit team, which helps us to play our best."
