The St. John’s women’s golf team wrapped up their fall schedule with a pair of impressive performances, finishing with their two best results of the season as they head into hibernation until the spring.
Last week, the St. John’s women’s golf team scored a runner-up finish at the Brown Bear Invitational in Seekonk, Mass. The field included eleven teams, with Seton Hall winning the team title at a score of 569.
However, the Red Storm carded a season-low with a score of 603 (+35), a total considerably lower than their season round average of 314.83. Their second-place finish is a big improvement over their eighth-place finish at the last tournament, the Boston College Intercollegiate.
CONGRATS‼️
Johnnies finish 2nd at the Brown Bear Ivitational⛳️ pic.twitter.com/8kRqhrH68O
— St. John's Women’s Golf (@StJohnsWGolf) October 16, 2017
Head coach Ambry Bishop, in her thirteenth season as St. John’s women’s golf coach, was pleased with her team’s effort.
“I was very pleased with our play this weekend,” she said to Red Storm Sports. “Even though we had a break in our schedule, we worked really hard and continued creating competitive environments during practice over the last few weeks to help make us even stronger at the Brown event.”
Leading the way for the Johnnies were Alejandra Sanchez and Kaitleen Shee, both of whom scored top ten finishes. Shee entered Tuesday as the team’s number one golfer, with sophomore Linda Wang sitting out due to an illness.
She had a solid first round, registering a one-over 72. The sophomore from Irvine, Calif., also scored a two-over 73 in the final round thanks to three birdies on the front nine, and finished tied for sixth in the tournament with an overall score of 145. Shee is looking to build off an impressive freshman year with the Johnnies, where she posted five top-ten finishes, and posted a score of 73 four times.
Sanchez, a junior from Cancun, Mexico, plays with her sister, freshman Andrea Sanchez. She was tied for first after the opening day of play, scoring a one-under 70 with four birdies to lead the team. She scored a 144 overall for both rounds.
Sanchez had a slow start over the first couple of weeks, but credited hard work as to what guided her turn around last weekend.
“I was struggling my first couple weeks but I worked really hard this past weekend and felt very good with myself and my performance,” Sanchez also told Red Storm Sports. “My first round score was actually my first under par round at the collegiate level which I was very excited about. Looking forward, I can’t wait for our home tournament next weekend.”
At that home tournament, the St. John’s Women’s Intercollegiate in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., the team carded a 631 total over two rounds to finish third out of six teams at Saint Andrew’s Golf Club on Tuesday. Even with three golfers finishing in a tie for fourth individually, it wasn’t an easy battle for the Red Storm.
The team battled through the wind and steady rain that battered most of the New York area, but still had four top-10 individual finishes.
“Conditions were really tough today,” St. John’s Bishop said after the final day of play. “With the high winds we didn’t see our best round of the season, however, this gives us motivation moving forward. We have the ability to be a strong team this spring and I look forward to working hard in the off season to accomplish our goal of winning titles.”
It was Sanchez’s sister, Andrea, who led the charge this time for the Johnnies, carding a team-low 156 through two rounds. Sofie Huesby and Linda Wang also finished with the same total. Shee shot an 81 in the second round to move up to a tie for eighth in the final leaderboard.
The sophomore may have had the highlight of the tournament, picking up an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole, made even more difficult by the weather. It was, however, the second eagle of the tournament for St. John’s who rallied behind Wang’s eagle in the first round to post a 312 total, good enough for second place.
Wang drains an eagle on the par-5 ninth hole‼️ pic.twitter.com/iRXYtMhTeJ
— St. John's Women’s Golf (@StJohnsWGolf) October 23, 2017
The team ended up just five shots back of first-place Quinnipiac, who shot a 626 (+50) over the two days.
The Red Storm played their best golf of the season right as the season came to a close, though, recovering from a sluggish fall to head into their winter reprieve with a bit of confidence.
“Conditions were really tough today,” St. John’s head coach Ambry Bishop said. “With the high winds we didn’t see our best round of the season, however, this gives us motivation moving forward. We have the ability to be a strong team this spring and I look forward to working hard in the off season to accomplish our goal of winning titles.”
