By Cameron Schwarz

Oct. 5, 2016

The UW-Whitewater women’s golf team concluded their regular season this past weekend by earning third place out of 11 teams at the UW-Stevens Point Invite.

The team has gained momentum throughout the season as they finished in the top three at four out of five invites, two being first
place finishes.

On the first day of action, freshman Ashley Hofmeister and senior Stephanie Stair put up top 10 rounds. Hofmeister finished the day in second with a score of 80. Stair was not far behind at 82, which was tied for ninth out of 62 golfers.

“Ashley has been playing at our No. 1 consistently all year,” sophomore Kaitlyn Bowe said.  “She’s a very strong freshman that has been helping our top five out
and myself.”

Sophomore Maddie McCue, senior Kayla Asleson and Bowe rounded out the day with respectable scores of 84, 90 and 91 to land the ‘Hawks at third place with a score of 336, only trailing first place UW-Oshkosh by eight strokes heading
into Sunday.

“We’re not just playing for one person,” Bowe said. “When we’re out there, you don’t give up.  You keep playing for the whole team because you don’t know how anyone else is doing.”

Unlike Saturday, when Hofmeister and Stair led the team with the lowest scores, they ended up putting up the two highest scores for the ‘Hawks on Sunday. 

Hofmeister shot an 86 with a two-day total of 186, while Stair shot an 84 for a total of 168.

Head coach Andrea Wieland evaluated her
team’s performance.

“Maddie McCue was a little more consistent this week which helped,” Wieland said.  “Maddie and Kayla played better the second day.” 

Hofmeister and McCue shot identical scores over the weekend as they tied for ninth.  They were the lone Warhawk golfers in the top 10.

“It was definitely a total team effort between both days,” Wieland said.  “Overall it was okay, but I know we have potential to do better.”

Asleson led the way Sunday with a team low score of 81 and an overall score of 171, which was good for a tie for 17th place.

“I think this weekend was an awesome showing of our mental game,” Bowe said.  “I think we’ve all started to get to the point where our mental toughness is better.  We’re not losing the confidence or getting frustrated with ourselves any more.”

As the regular season wraps up, the team will now prepare for postseason play. The WIAC Championship will be held this weekend at the Reedsburg Country Club.  A first place finish would give them an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships.

“The teams here (in the WIAC) are beatable,” Wieland said.  “It’s just going to take two of our best rounds to do that.  We can do it, it’s just a matter of actually doing it when we’re under pressure.”