This past weekend, the Notre Dame women’s golf team concluded its season at the ACC Tournament in Wilmington, N.C. The Irish finished tied at 13th with California, both schools shooting +16.
Freshman Taryn Cagle commented on the greens at Porters Neck Country Club, saying “The course wasn’t overly difficult, but used the greens as its defense. The big, undulated greens meant the potential for extremely long lags and well-placed bunkers in the fairway resulted in a couple difficult approaches from the sand.”
However, the unideal grounds did not stop the Irish from having one of their strongest performances in the conference final.
Sophomore Bridget Wilkie tied 11th for overall personal scores. Wilkie shot a 212 (-4) over the course of the tournament, making her just 10 strokes behind the top-finisher Paula Martín Sampedro from Stanford.
Not far behind, sophomore Maddy Bante finished tied for 35th with a score of 218 (+2), followed by freshman Jordan Levitt who shot 225 (+9) and Cagle who shot 229 (+13). Concluding scoring for Notre Dame, junior Alex Lapple finished 74th with a score of 232 (+20).
The Irish started the tournament with shooting 12 over par but were able to improve as the tournament went on. On the second day, the Irish shot only 5 over par and finished the final day with shooting 1 under par, contributing to their total score +16. Compared with previous tournaments, the Irish showed significant team improvement.
When speaking on the team’s performance, Cagle said, “Though ACCs ended the season and we did not advance to regionals, the team showed huge improvements from last year’s conference finish. We put up some good scores and overall it was a strong way to end the spring.”
The team is done for the season, but Cagle praised the season and team’s diligence. “It has been awesome to see the growth we have made as a team from the beginning of fall to now,” she said.
“The new coaches have been incredible for the program and we are grateful for all the little things they have done behind the scenes to help build us into the best group of golfers possible.”
The Irish are looking forward to next season, especially because the roster will feature mostly returning contributors.
“No one is graduating,” Cagle said. “So it will be awesome to have all the same faces and our incoming grad transfer and try to build off the momentum we created this spring.”
