Wildcats make it a five-bagger on the links
West Ranch wins fifth consecutive girls golf match; Hwang, Goel tie for the low score with 37 strokes
Foothill League girls golfers tested their skills Wednesday at The Oaks Club at Valencia, which is considered one of the longer courses in the league, and the West Ranch Wildcats still prevailed, pulling some of their best numbers from the entire season.
“The goal as I mentioned to you before was to get below 190 strokes as a team, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Wildcats head coach Jeff Holen. “Our next goal is to now have everyone score in the mid 30’s. If we can get all six of our players to do that, then if one of our players are lacking another player will be able to pick them up. Hopefully we continue where we’re at and they let the ability they have take control.”
Holen’s team finished with a total of 188 strokes and was led by Allison Hwang and Ashmita Goel, who each shot a 37, which was good enough for 1-over par. Both were tied for the best scores in the match. Eunice Yi, Rori
Fanning and Kate Yi each tied with 38 strokes.
“I four-putted on the first hole but I was trying to not focus on that and got two birdies in a row after that,” said Eunice. “My putting wasn’t as great as I wanted it to be so if
I work on that I will be better prepared for (Thursday).”
The Valencia Vikings for the fifth match in a row finished in second place with 220 strokes. Vikings head coach Robert Waters saw his team struggle a bit with the tough course, but tips his hat off to the Wildcats for their stellar performance.
“The way West Ranch played and the scores they put up are probably some of the best scores you’ll see for a high school golf team,” said Waters. “Our team struggled but luckily for us we get to play here again on Thursday. Hopefully we can get some redemption. The girls didn’t beat themselves up for it and they understand the areas they need to improve on.”
The Vikings were led by Jillian Leh with 38 strokes, tied with Eunice but good enough to still keep the league lead by two strokes. Justine Cabot came in second on the team
with 41 strokes.
“I was pretty confident, especially in the start because I kept parring and got the birdie on the par 5,” said Leh. “The putting was a little off towards the end, but overall, I had so much fun. I want to take what I saw on the course today to see my improvements for the Thursday match.”
The Hart Indians finished in third place with 238 strokes and were led by Peyton Grider with 44 strokes. Brooke Almond finished with 47 strokes and Sophia Yi finished with 48 strokes. The Saugus Centurions finished fourth with 281 strokes, with Brooke Maxwell leading with 43 strokes and Madison Seifert with 49 strokes.
The Canyon Cowboys, who have been unable to qualify for scores in three of their five matches, had enough players to qualify and finished with 316 strokes, good enough for fifth place. The Cowboys were led by Vivian Lee with 55 strokes. Isabella Carrera and Scarlett Arellano finished with 60 strokes each. The Golden Valley Grizzlies rounded out the Foothill League teams, finishing with 321 strokes. The Grizzlies were led by Riya Patel with 56 strokes.
The next Foothill League matchup was set to take place Thursday at The Oaks Club at Valencia.