Mazzei cards third straight top-ten

Author: Jake Cohen

The women's golf team traveled down to the famous Taconic Golf Course at Williams College this past weekend, finishing seventh overall in the 10-team invitational tournament. The top finisher for the Panthers was once again Courtney Mazzei '11 who finished 22-over-par and tied for ninth place individually.

Wellesley College took the tournament trophy home with them via the Mass. Pike after an eight-stroke victory over second-place finisher Holy Cross. The St. Lawrence Saints rounded out the podium, finishing only one stroke behind Holy Cross. All in all, this past weekend was full of phenomenal competition. The top six teams were separated by only six strokes - the difference between a good and bad day for any individual golfer.

The Middlebury squad went to Williams with nervous expectations. Its prior performances had shown signs of improvement but were hardly encouraging. Aside from a handful of noteworthy rounds fired, the team has, for the most part, underachieved.

But there was a spirit of change in the air last weekend. What was once a nerve-racking competitive environment transformed into a series of possibilities, each seeming more tangible than the next. Coach George Phinney changed his approach with the women, focusing more on reachable goals than overall success, a move that clearly worked.

"Setting team goals for every weekend is a good idea," said captain Karen Levin '08. "We did it this past weekend and it helped us all focus and lower our scores on day two."

The highlight of the Taconic Tournament was Jesse Bluestein '11. Though being new to collegiate level competition, Bluestein has performed well this season and capped off her continued improvement with a 84-81 weekend, good enough for 12th overall.

"Playing collegiate level golf can be more nerve-racking than any kind I've played before," said Bluestein, "but this weekend I felt much more prepared, probably because we've been focusing on course management and how to play strategically."

In fact, every player on Middlebury matched or lowered scores on the second day of the tournament.

Levin saw the most dramatic change shaving eight strokes off of her 89 from day one. Middlebury improved its overall standings by two positions and was the only team to have every player shoot better on showdown Sunday.

Next weekend the team heads to the tournament champion's turf at Wellesley College to continue its consistently improving play.

"This coming weekend is the culmination of a whole season of work," said Levin.

"I can't wait for this weekend," said Bluestein. "We have changed our mentality and really shot well. This is our last tournament and I'm sure it will be our best."