While most Boston University students have been occupied with the stresses and rigors of returning to class, the select members of the Terrier women’s golf team have been practicing and taking part in early season competitions.
From Sept. 13-14, the team hit the links in Hanover, N.H., for the Dartmouth Invitational. The Terriers finished 10th out of 18 teams, with Princeton University leading the way. The Terriers shot a combined 681, the lowest score ever tallied by a BU team at the tournament.
‘I thought we did pretty well,’ said BU coach Cammy Landry. ‘I was very pleased.’
The team brought five golfers to the event, as is customary. Occasionally, teams bring a sixth golfer whose points do not count toward the team’s total during individual competition. Competing in Hanover were sophomore Kara Vaneck, sophomore Brenna Gibson, freshman Haley Goucher and junior co-captains Nicole Schiffer and Leah Johnson. Johnson had the team’s top individual performance, placing 30th overall with a combined two-day score of 165.
The event was marred by bad weather, including a 45-minute rain delay on Sunday. Afterward, the course was slightly flooded, and ‘the team struggled to get back into the flow of things,’ said Landry, who has been in charge of the program since its inception in 1994.
Both Johnson and the team are coming off what Landry called ‘a wonderful spring season,’ which saw the team place second at each of the Massachusetts State Championships, the Northeast Championships and the Hartford Invitational. Johnson was the second medalist at the Northeast Championships and the team’s medalist at Hartford.
This year’s team also welcomes the addition of freshman Haley Goucher, from Olathe, Kan.
‘She’s a special player, and very coachable,’ Landry said. ‘I can’t say enough about her.’
Goucher said she finds that golf in college is different than high school, explaining that it is ‘more competitive, but a lot of fun.’
Both Landry and Goucher spoke of the difference in terrain between courses in Kansas and New England.
‘I’ve never played golf in the rain,’ Goucher said. ‘And there aren’t that many hills in Kansas, so that was definitely a change.’
Goucher also said her goal this year is not to be the team’s ‘token freshman.’
The team is loaded with freshman and sophomores, with Fiore the team’s lone senior and juniors Johnson and Schiffer filling out the roster. With such a strong returning squad, the team is looking to continue the positive swing it started last spring.
This fall, the team will also competes at Mt. Holyoke College, Central Connecticut State University and Hofstra University.
The team heads next to the Bryant Invitational at Beaver River Golf Club, which Landry called ‘a tough Rhode Island course.’ Chock full of woods and trees, and presenting golfers with a narrow fairway, Landry said accurate, straight shots will be the key at the upcoming competition. ‘We might want to leave our drivers in the van, and use a 3-wood,’ she said.