The Iowa women’s golf team traveled to East Lansing, Mich., over the weekend feeling confident it could compete with the best teams and place in the top five.
The Hawkeyes struggled during 54-holes of play, though, and finished 15th out of 17 teams at the Mary Fossum Invitational.
Host Michigan State claimed first place, shooting a team score of 875 (11 over). Purdue followed closely with a score of 878, and no other team threatened the top spots.
Iowa finished the first round of play on Sept. 12 with a team score of 317 (29 over), led by junior Brianna Coopman’s team-low 78.
The second round, also on Sept. 12, did not improve the Hawkeyes’ standing — they finished with a score of 322. Junior Laura Cilek carded a 78 in round two, tying Coopman for the team’s low score of the weekend.
After the first day of play the Hawkeyes tried to clear their minds. Cilek said the team shared the positive aspects from their rounds with each other in hopes of ridding the bad parts from their mind.
Despite the exercise, Sunday’s third round brought no relief. The team finished at 325. Coopman again had the lowest score on the team in round three, along with freshman Kristi Cardwell; they both finished with an eight-over score of 80.
Even with a lower-than-expected finish, Iowa is confident its best days are ahead.
“We didn’t perform to our expectations at that particular tournament, but I think that just motivates us even more to prepare better and work harder to reach those expectations in our next tournament,” Cilek said. “We definitely have the talent and skills to be one of the top teams in our conference. We just have to believe it and play to our potential.”
Senior Alison Cavanaugh also remains optimistic. The team didn’t get beaten by 14 other teams, she said; rather, the Hawkeyes let them win. Iowa left too many strokes on the course and didn’t play anywhere near its potential, she said.
“We have the same high expectations for the next tournament,” Cavanaugh said. “The disappointing finish has made us even more hungry to go out and prove we are a better team than this past weekend.”
Head coach Kelly Crawford was surprised at her team’s performance. She said she felt the Hawkeyes were prepared and ready to compete and fell short of not only their potential, but their ability.
She noted, like Cavanaugh, that the team gave a lot of shots back to the field by not converting relatively easy pars and not making putts.
“One of my ‘coach-isms’ is, ‘If you’re on the course, you’re in position,’ ” she said. “That means that you can make par from anywhere. I kept reminding them during the rounds and after the first day that we are going to hit bad shots, so we will have to fight for the pars.”
Like both of her players, Crawford is confident that the Hawkeyes will turn things around for their next tournament, the Lady Northern Invitational on Sept. 27 in Madison, Wis.
“I know they are all disappointed with their individual performances, and I expect they will get some good work done over the next couple of weeks,” Crawford said. “I know what we are capable of, and I have complete faith that we will have a much better result in our next event.”