Despite being caught up with the Ivies, the Hoyas managed to find smooth greens this weekend.

Georgetown finished in third place in the Princeton Women’s Invitational at Springdale Country Club in Princeton, N.J., posting a combined team score of 56-over-par 632. The Hoyas came in behind first-place host Princeton (at 38-over par 614) and second-place Columbia (at 52-over 632), but beat out the rest of the 15-team field, which included Ivy League members Dartmouth, Yale, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania.

Junior Chelsea Curtis led Georgetown on both Saturday and Sunday, as she fired a pair of four-over 76s each day. Seniors Katie Dwyer and Jenna Winokur shot rounds of 79 and 82 on Saturday, followed by junior Carly Hunt with an 11-over 83 and sophomore Robyn English with a 15-over 87.

The team finished day one at 320 and in fifth place, 19 strokes off the Princeton Tigers.

“We had some rain on Saturday, so things got a little challenging,” Head Coach Patricia Post said. “Princeton ran away with it that day, and it was going to be hard to get it back from them on Sunday.”

Despite the host team’s strong performance on Saturday, the Hoyas made an impressive comeback on Sunday, charging up in the rankings to finish third.

“We always go in thinking that we can win,” Post said. “I was hoping for second or third after Saturday, and we ended not that far off of second place, so it was a great finish for us.”

Post credits the team’s experience playing with tricky layouts and uncooperative conditions for their solid rounds on Sunday.

“Springdale is a tough course, but we practice on an even tougher course,” Post said, referring to Raspberry Falls Golf Club in Leesburg, Va. “It got a little windy on Sunday, but I always tell the girls that scores will be higher in the wind and they have to be patient and they were.”

Curtis’ round of 76 was the low individual score for the Hoyas – her two-day total of 152 secured her a second place finish behind the individual winner, Princeton’s Susannah Aboff at six-over 150. The team’s senior duo of Dwyer and Winokur shot a pair of five-over 77s. The strong Sunday showings left both golfers in the top 20 of the individual standings, with Dwyer tied for ninth place and Winokur tied for 19th. Hunt and English finished in a tie for 50th place after Sunday rounds of 86 and 82.

“One of Chelsea Curtis’ season goals was to win a tournament, so a second-place finish is a great step toward that goal,” Post said. “And Katie Dwyer wanted to finish in the top ten at a tournament, and she did this week, so we are going to have to re-work her goals now.”

Georgetown’s strong performance this early in the season is made even sweeter by their recent top-20 ranking of college golf programs by Golf Digest magazine. The Hoyas were ranked 17th out of hundreds of colleges and universities in the “balanced” category, which is geared for students who place equal emphasis on athletics and academics.

“It’s nice now to be able to back up a ranking that is not really based on golf statistics with strong performances,” Post said. “Hopefully the golf program will keep going up and up and up.”

The Hoyas have three more tournaments in their fall season, including one this weekend at Yale.

“We want a win, and we think we can do it,” Post said. “We’re going to go in there and post some low numbers and come home with a trophy.”