The Georgetown women’s golf team wrapped up its successful fall campaign with a second-place finish at the Lehigh Invitational this past weekend in Pennsylvania.
The Hoyas shot a plus 46-over-par 622 over two days in windy conditions to finish four strokes behind Lehigh and 27 strokes ahead of Monmouth University.
“It was pretty tough conditions, so we stayed positive and just kept fighting through the heavy winds to put together two decent scores,” Head Coach Katie Brophy said.
The top performers for the Hoyas were freshman Ashley Fitzgibbons, sophomore Pendleton Bogache and junior Jacquelyn Eleey, who all tied for fourth place at 12 over par. Sophomores Christina Parsells and Alexa Popowitz finished tied for 10th at 13 over par.
Consistency has been a theme for the team this fall. Brophy was impressed with her team’s ability to be consistent throughout the fall season.
“The big surprise was our consistency from our number one player to our number five player.” Brophy said. “It was very helpful because anybody could go out and be the low scorer, which is something that we haven’t had since I’ve been here. It’s made it very easy to put together good numbers because there’s no pressure on any particular person — it’s all dispersed throughout the five.”
The Hoyas’ consistency helped them finish in the top five in 4-of-5 tournaments this fall. Before the heavy winds interfered with play, the Hoyas had shaven dozens of strokes off their scores. Brophy said the team beat her expectations this fall and is quite pleased with her players’ progress.
“We had a great fall. We definitely have a very strong group. Since our team is so young, I was hoping we would get to this point by now and we have, so I wasn’t sure how long that would take,” Brophy said.
One of the team’s breakout performers this past fall is freshman Ashley Fitzgibbons, who has quickly become a core member of the team’s youthful starting five.
“It’s nice that with three sophomores and one freshman as a majority of our lineup, and only one junior and no seniors, it’s been nice to have everybody playing so well so soon in their college careers. … It’s very fun because it’s such an energetic and positive group. They’re very fun to be around,” Brophy said of the underclassmen.
Fitzgibbons said her favorite part about college golf so far is her teammates.
“They’re by far the best part about college golf so far. Traveling is great but getting to be on a team with girls who care about golf and each other [is special],” Fitzgibbons said. “The nice thing about being on a college team is that everyone is very passionate about golf, but also they just seem to really appreciate being around other people who play golf in that way as well. So it’s a really good chemistry that we have.”
When it comes to her own game, Fitzgibbons has seen improvement in her short game, which she credits for her impactful freshman fall.
“We had one tournament at Furman where our putting was a disaster, so we really focused on improving in that way and it helped for the rest of the season … We have done a lot of concentrated drills that I never used to do at home, so that has helped me,” Fitzgibbons said.
However, Fitzgibbons said she still sees room for continued improvement in her game.
“I have some swing changes to make,” Fitzgibbons said. “It’s been a while since I have looked at my swing on a video or in the mirror. I’ll definitely be making some swing adjustments.”
Fitzgibbons and the rest of the team will have plenty of time to continue to develop. The Hoyas’ next match is Feb. 25 at the Kiawah Spring Invitational on Kiawah Island, S.C.
