Slowly – very slowly – Georgetown is reacquainting itself with the concept of success.
After finishing dead last in the Lady Badger Invitational two weeks ago, the Georgetown women’s golf team, which finished second in the Big East a year ago, stepped up its level of play to finish 12th out of 14 teams at the Lady Irish Invitational in South Bend, Ind. on Sunday.
“We started this tournament a lot better than we finished the last one,” Georgetown first-year Head Coach Patricia Frohna-Post said. “That means we’re making progress and headed in the right direction.”
The Hoyas finished Sunday with a three round score of 111-over par, a significant improvement over their total of 138 at the Lady Badger tournament. Cincinnati beat Notre Dame to take the overall title on the strength of a 15-over par final round performance. Georgetown finished ahead of Columbia University and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne.
Junior Katie Dwyer has taken command of the leadership role for the Hoyas. She was the team’s top finisher for the second-straight tournament, tying for 23rd place overall after shooting a 19-over par 235. The Allentown, Pa. native finished 49th in Madison, Wis. two weeks ago to lead the Hoyas.
“Katie is playing very solid. She is very steady and consistent.” Frohna-Post said praising the junior’s methodical approach to playing the game.
“There is nothing fancy, she just hits it down the fairway and plays well on the green.” Frohna-Post said.
With only one senior on the roster, the Hoyas have learned to lean on a strong junior class. Jenna Winokur, Madeleine Nguyen and Stephanie Cope, all members of the class of 2008, have all placed in the two opening tournaments, including a solid 38th place finish for Winokur on Sunday.
In order to continue her team’s improvement, Post hopes to instill confidence in her young Hoyas. “In general, we need everyone to have the confidence that they can go out and play well consistently,” Frohna-Post said. “I try to make sure that they have a good routine that enables them to play great golf.”
Georgetown heads to New Haven, Conn. for the Yale Invitational this coming weekend, Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.
Post believes her team will continue to show progress in the year’s third invitational. She also hopes that familiarity breeds success.
“We are psyched about this weekend,” she said. “Everyone on the team has played the course up at Yale, so we should have a lot of experience headed into the tournament.”
Play at The Course at Yale begins on Friday and runs through Sunday.