The men’s squad traveled to Bernardston, Mass. for the ECAC DIII Championship tournament, where its first-years continued to dominate en route to a narrow two stroke victory over conference rival Trinity for its second ECAC tournament victory in three years. The women’s squad competed in the first ever NESCAC Women’s Golf Championship at the Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, placing 2nd in NESCAC play and 3rd overall.
The men shot a collective 591 for the weekend to take home the trophy just a week after winning the NESCAC qualifier.
Once again, Panther first-years sat at the top of the individual leader board, as Scott Guidotti ’19 shot a 141 (three-under par), the only score under par on the weekend, and Reid Buzby ’19 shot a 145 for the weekend. Guidotti has now won both tournaments he has played in as a Panther.
After Saturday’s round, the Panthers sat five shots off Trinity’s lead, as the Bantams’ Will Rosenfield shot a 69 and Jeff Durkin shot a 73. Although Rosenfield and Durkin set the pace through the first round of play, Guidotti and Buzby were not far behind with their first round scores of 71 and 75, respectively. Like Buzby, fellow first-year Phil Morin ’19 and junior Rodrigo Andrade ’17 also shot 75’s in the first round.
“It feels pretty good to know that I was able to contribute to the team,” Morin said. “All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my college career here at Midd.”
Sunday, once again, belonged to Guidotti. He cut a stroke from Saturday’s round and shot a 70, while Trinity’s Will Rosenfield fell far off his torrid first round pace with a 75. Buzby tied Guidotti and two others for the low round, 70, on Sunday. The performances by Guidotti and Buzby were enough for the Panthers to make up the five stroke deficit they faced heading into the second day of competition.
The team’s first-years have certainly provided a youthful enthusiasm in their first semester on the team.
“Being a part of the golf team for this first month of school has been an absolute blast,” Morin said. “I can’t imagine having a better and more diverse group of guys to hang out with ... All of the upperclassmen are always willing to give me advice on just about anything.”
The men’s team will return to the course when it tries to defend its NESCAC title and win the conference for the fifth time in six years.
“We are excited for the accomplishments we have had so far in the season and definitely looking forward for the upcoming spring,” Andrade said.
The women finished second at the Taconic Golf club this weekend, punctuating an excellent fall season.
After beating Amherst in the first tournament of their fall season, the women’s golf team finished behind the Lord Jeffs in each of their next two tournaments before topping their rival in their final weekend of the fall season.
The Panthers finished with a weekend total of 663, 46 shots behind Williams, but nine shots ahead of Amherst. After the first day of play, the Panthers held a slim, two-shot advantage over Amherst after a first round total of 328.
“We were in 2nd place going into Sunday’s round again,” Katharine Fortin ’18 said, reflecting on last weekend’s Middlebury Invitational where the Panthers were in striking distance on Amherst before a poor round on Sunday. “Most of us played match-play in our heads against our Amherst competitor [for Sunday’s round] because we knew it would be a tight race.”
Williams finished the weekend with a 617 and were paced by tournament individual champion Cordelia Chan who recovered from a rough two days at Ralph Myhre last weekend to finish at nine over par shooting a 151 for the weekend. Fortin was the closest Panther to Chan on the leaderboard, as she shot back-to-back rounds of 79 to finish with a 158 and 16 over par for the weekend.
Other Panthers who factored into the successful result were Helen Dailey ’19, Hope Matthews ’18, Monica Chow ’16 and Theodora Yoch ’17. Dailey continued her successful start to her Middlebury career with rounds of 81 and 82. Key players Chow and Matthews battled through tough rounds as they shot 173 and 176 respectively, while Yoch shot rounds of 81 and 89 to finish the weekend with a 170.
“Williams is a very impressive team, so 2nd was a solid finish ... The greens are fast and sloped, and this weekend, we were playing very firm. We are proud of how we all played and stuck with it through Sunday’s round. It was perfect weather and we all had a lot fun together and on the course with our competitors,” Fortin said.
The women’s squad will head back to Massachusetts this weekend, Oct. 17-18, to wrap up its season in Wellesley for the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational, while the men’s squad puts up their clubs for the winter.
