The Bridgewater College women's golf team started their season two weeks ago at the Shenandoah Fall Invitational where the Eagles came in second and senior Sophia Martone claimed medalist honors. Today the team completed their home event at Lakeview Golf Club with the same results after Martone finished under par and the Eagles' charge to the top of the leaderboard fell just short.
 
Coming into the day nine strokes behind the Knights of Southern Virginia, the Eagles faced an uphill battle to claim first place in the Bridgewater Invitational, but five holes into the final round (in a persistent rain) the home team had completely erased the SVU lead. For the bulk of the day, the teams hovered within two shots of each other and the Eagles briefly took the lead, but the back nine (Lake Course) produced some big numbers for Bridgewater and the Knights pulled away.
 
"This team has a tradition of making strong moves during the second round, like the first tournament where we made up eleven strokes to finish second. And the ladies did it again today," said head coach John Rogers, "but sadly we could not maintain the pace needed to get the win. Still, a pair of runner-up finishes to start the season is pretty solid."
 
Martone managed to keep her day drama-free. She came in with a one-stroke lead on Tuesday, but had her round at -2 through eleven holes, despite periodic rain, and she stretched the lead to as much as five strokes. Her one mis-step of the tournament came on #14 when she took a double bogey which allowed Amani Narang from Sweet Briar to briefly close within two strokes. But Martone completed the round with four pars to claim a three-stroke victory. 
 
Early in the season, the senior from Raleigh, is averaging a blistering 73.75 and this is the first time since 2017 that an Eagle has claimed back-to-back medals. That year, Christina Herbert, won an unbelievable eight tournaments (out of eleven), including the national championship. "Right now, Sophia is moving into a space that very few college golfers ever get to experience," said Rogers. "She has worked hard on every aspect of her game, and it's great to see it bear fruit."
 
Martone ended up leading the 42-player field in par-4 and par-5 scoring this week, and had the most pars as well (24).
 
During the first round, the Eagles dropped ten strokes on a single hole (#9), so their plan was to avoid the big numbers on day-two. They were on track until they dropped another ten strokes on #12, and then seven more on #14.
 
Following the team trend of back-nine woes, Hannah Rizzo gave up five strokes on the final five holes. But she still managed to post 77-80 (157) to claim sixth place in the tournament. She said that three-putts and a few hooks off the tee hurt her this week. Her irons were sharp though, as she led the field in par-3 scoring (-2 total).
 
Senior Katie Gaeth was determined to earn a tournament flag (top-18) this week, and she was well on her way when she was +5 through eleven today. Despite dropping eight shots on the back nine, she held on to claim the 15th-place flag. She ended up with a two-day total of 166 (81-85).
 
Brooke Tyler and Emily Price came in with a pair of 86s to round out the team score of 324, but they got there very different ways. Tyler was the one Eagle to play better on the back nine, coming in with a 40 after a challenging front nine. Price was even through six holes after birdies on #1 and #3, but she had five bogies and a quintuple on the inward nine. Tyler finished 23rd for the tournament, and Price was 28th.
 
Evelyn Hunter, playing as an individual, came up with one of her better collegiate rounds on Tuesday, an 85 that featured a birdie on each of the opening holes. Rogers pointed to some great stretches of golf from Hunter in each round, and said it was important because she is likely to see the starting lineup as the season progresses. She finished 24th.
 
The Eagles, uniquely starting a fifth-year senior, a senior, a junior, a sophomore, and a freshman, have started the season 14-2 in head-to-head comparisons. They finished eight shots clear of third-place Averett today.
 
Bridgewater is back in action the first weekend of October when they will try to return the favor from Southern Virginia, by winning the Knights' home event.