The Seattle University Women’s Golf team concluded their 2017-2018 season with a strong performance at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship, finishing third out of eight teams.
Hosted at Legacy Golf Club In Phoenix, Arizona, The WAC Championship went from April 16 to 18.
The Redhawks showed resilience as they went toe-to-toe with the eventual WAC Champions Grand Canyon University as well as the runner-up, New Mexico State. New Mexico State, the reigning champions for the last three years, were denied the their place as WAC Champions.
“I think for us it was more just always trying to do our best and we know that we are going to do our best no matter what place that we finish,” first-year Kimberlee Tottori said. “Because our team is so young, we haven’t experienced that high-pressure situation so it’s definitely going to help us next season and in future tournaments on how to gauge our feelings and try to improve for next year.”
In the end, the Redhawks were four strokes back of tying the WAC Champions, an encouraging result.
Freshman Vendela From was the standout performer for the Redhawks, ending at two-over-par, she tied for the third best overall performance in the tournament.
Thanks to From and a strong showing by the rest of the team on the tournament’s opening day, the Redhawks found themselves in second place going into day two.
Freshman Keisha Lugito stepped up for the Redhawks as part of a thrilling second-round push, which resulted in the Redhawks moving into first place.
In the final day of the tournament, the team fell to third place as the Redhawks could not match their stellar performances from the first two days.
While the Redhawks may have played their final tournament of the season, and there are no more mandatory practices, Linette Chua, a junior and Communications and Media major has a few areas in which she hopes to improve over the offseason.
“Definitely short game and the mental aspect. Just handling the pressure when you’re put in those situations and how hard it is for us,” she said. Tottori echoed similar sentiments.
“There’s a difference between being in practice saying ‘I need to make this 10 footer for par’ and then being in a tournament and having a 10 footer to win by one,” she said. “I’m definitely hopeful for next year. I think we had a couple tournaments that showed our potential and I think as a team we have a lot of potential especially since we’re so young. We haven’t gotten to compete a lot together so I think it’s really exciting because we’re really just starting out.”
Alec may be reached at
[email protected]
