WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The Bridgewater College golf teams finished up play on the Blue Heron course at Ford's Colony on Monday, with both the women and the men claiming solid third place finishes in The Melee. The Women improved by seven strokes over their first round score to hold onto the third spot while the men shaved six strokes to jump into the top three. 
 
Senior Sophia Martone capped off a strong fall season by leading the Eagles once more. Though she was not thrilled with her final tally of 80-80 (160), her 6th place finish in Williamsburg this week gave her an amazing cumulative head-to-head record of 191-7 for the fall portion of the season. "This tournament was a great learning experience, and I am proud of what I did this season," said Martone. "However there is obviously more work to be done in the off-season." The standout from Raleigh led the field in pars and par-3 scoring this week.
 
A pair of Eagles came out hot on Monday and looked like they would have career scores; while both fell short of personal bests they provided the next two scores for the team. Senior Evelyn Hunter did provide the lowest score she has posted as a part of the starting lineup. She was just two strokes over par through eight holes (despite a triple bogey), and she held on to post an impressive 82, which is eight strokes better than average. 
 
Similarly, Junior Emily Price was in uncharted territory when she was only two over through twelve, and even though she gave back nine strokes on the final six holes, she still posted an 85 that was three strokes under her average. "These rounds that Evelyn and Emily Produced today bode well for the spring season," said Head Coach John Rogers, "because there will be a vacancy in the starting lineup and we will need all the other players to step up. It will keep us moving in the right direction as the two of them provide more scores like today." 
 
Sophomore Hannah Rizzo was not pleased with her first round ball striking and some of those troubles carried over to the final round when she hit some errant tee balls. Near the end of the round, she had a five hole stretch at just plus one and she held on for a final tally of 87. 
 
Today the Eagles said a final competitive goodbye to fifth-year Senior Katie Gaeth who extended her career by one semester. Gaeth started as a walk-on who came over from the basketball team, and as a raw player in her rookie season, she averaged 114. The fact that she dropped her final scoring average to 86 means she has the program record for the most improvement, an amazing drop of twenty-eight strokes. "Katie was not sure if she would come back this semester, so she did her senior walk down the final fairway in the ODAC Championship last spring, but we were fortunate to get her back for four more tournaments, and she has been a great addition to our team over the years." said Rogers, "It was a blast to watch her convert raw athleticism into real golf ability." Gaeth concluded her career by having a little fun on her 328 yard closing hole -- she went ahead and took the risky play of hitting driver on the narrow hole that has a water hazard running up the right side; she got a good bounce or two and ended up hitting her drive pin-high, closing with a par that gave her a total of 88. 
 
With a third place finish the women from Bridgewater concluded the fall portion of their season with four straight events in the top-three. Their head to head record was a strong tally of 26-6. Alvernia won the Melee with 321-307(628). 
 
On the men's side, Eagles came out ready for battle, and through nine holes they had a team score of one under par, which meant they were pacing the field by seven strokes for the day. They cooled off on the inward nine, but the team score of 301 was good enough to help them leap Dickinson and jump a spot on the leaderboard. 
 
Junior Brandon Washburn, the only upperclassman in the lineup, led the way for Bridgewater posting 77-74 (151) to claim a top-ten finish. Washburn was even on his front nine after a shotgun start and navigated the team slump on the back by going only two over on the way in. 
he led the field in par-5 scoring today at -2.
 
Following the team trend, freshmen Will Layton made a pair of birdies on the front nine to cover two bogeys making him even through twelve. The only big blemish on the scorecard was a triple bogey on his 15th hole after his tee ball skipped out of bounds; but the rookie closed with a birdie on his final hole. He finished tied for 17th out of 69 players in just his second collegiate start. 
 
Walker Gillespie and Christian Carroll, both in their first semesters of college, came in with a pair of 76's. After making birdie on two of his first three holes, Gillespie made the turn at -2, but misplaced a few shots and four-putted one green coming in. Similarly, Carroll was just one over par through nine holes despite starting the day with a double bogey; but he pulled multiple shots early on the back nine and had to scramble for three straight bogeys. He tied with Layton for 17th place. 
 
Showing the fickle nature of college golf, sophomore Alex Deas led the way for the eagles on Sunday but came in with a drop-score of 79 after a slow start on Monday. He was already seven over through seven holes but he bucked the team trend by playing the next ten holes at -1. He and Gillespie tied for 20th. 
 
"We had great parity in scoring this week as all ten scores ranged between 74 and 79," noted Rogers. "This was good considering we had three freshmen in the lineup, and the front nine today showed what the guys can do, but we also found out we have some work to do before we head to the Cardinal for Guilford's tournament next week." In the end, Drew University claimed a six-shot victory, after posting 288-296 (584).
 
Not only did both Bridgewater squads end up in third (among eight teams for the women and fourteen teams for the men), but all ten Eagles claimed top-20 finishes. The women have wrapped up their fall competition and the men return to action on October 28 in Greensboro.