Billy Tyler
Assistant Sports Editor
The women’s and men’s golf teams competed this past weekend at the Patriot League Championship and Navy Invitational, respectively. The women finished in second place, narrowly missing out on a win, while the men slipped in a rough final round and ended their event in 16th place.
The women’s golf team hosted the inaugural Patriot League Women’s Golf Tournament at the Bucknell Golf Club. After two tight days of competition, the final result was not decided until the final few holes when Lehigh edged out the Bison by three strokes for the Patriot League title. Lehigh started the day with a five-stroke lead, which grew to 11 early on in the final round, but a late comeback by the Bison fell just short.
The Bison were led by three of its members. Bridget Wilcox ’14 opened the tournament with a three-over-par 73 and closed the tournament with a four-over 74 to claim the individual runner-up, only five strokes behind the individual champion. Wilcox was closely followed by Lauren Bernard ’14 who shot a 75 in the final round and tied for third individually despite playing through a painful foot injury that has left her sidelined for most of the season. Kasha Scott ’14 also played very well for the team and finished the tournament by going one-under-par in the final 10 holes to shoot a 76 on the day. The three juniors were recognized for their efforts with spots on the All-Patriot League Team. Additionally, the head coach for the Bison, Kevin Jamieson, was named the conference’s Coach of the Year.
The men’s team, meanwhile, was taking on tough competition at the Navy Invitational in Annapolis, Md. The weekend began on a high note for the Bison, who found themselves in eighth place in the 21-team field after the tournament’s first round on April 20. The team’s score of 304 was slightly behind those of Navy and several ACC schools, and was ahead of all other Patriot League teams competing in the tournament. This result came from solid rounds by Schuyler Stitzer ’14 with a 77, Peter Scialabba ’15 with a 76, Jon Hartman ’13 with a 78 and Dan Bernard ’13 with a 73. Unfortunately, this momentum did not carry over to the final round, which did not see a single member of the team exceeding his score from the previous day. The team’s final round score of 331 dropped it to 16th place.
While the women’s golf team has finished its season, the men’s golf team will look to rebound this weekend at the Patriot League Championship, which will be hosted by Lehigh University.