Courtesy of UCR Athletics
Courtesy of UCR Athletics

 

The UC Riverside women’s golf team hosted CSU Bakersfield at the Canyon Crest Country Club on Sunday, November 1 in an 18-hole duel match that would be their final event of the fall season.

The Highlanders entered the day with high expectations after defeating the Runners in five out of seven head-to-head matches last year as well as one three-way match. This, on top of Bakersfield’s lack of top five finish on the current season, boosted the Highlanders’ confidence even more coming in.

Nevertheless, the momentum UCR held on paper failed to perpetuate itself on the course as their eight head-to-head matches against CSUB were split four apiece on the day. UCR’s season-long star, Jakeishya Le, closed out her fall season fittingly with a solid showing in her six and five (six holes ahead with just five holes remaining) victory over Shannon Wong. Highlander Julia Sander had an identical finish in her head-to-head victory over the Runners’ Ariel Le.

The Highlanders earned two other head-to-head victories on the day courtesy of Paris Griffith and Haley Wian, but failed to get a win in either of the three-way matches — both of which were taken by CSUB’s Jenni Chun.

That makes for a somewhat anti-climactic end to a fall season for women’s golf that included two first place finishes at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic and Cal Poly Lady Mustang Intercollegiate tournament, respectively.

The individual highlights of the Highlanders season were UCR’s Hannah Facchini — who claimed one individual title on the year and was the runner up at the aforementioned Cowgirl Classic — and Le, who finished in the top 10 for each tournament this year. Paris Griffith and Haley Wian both had a top 10 finish this year as well.

As of now, UCR looks ahead to the winter season, where they’ll return to the links on February 8, 2016 at the CSU Northridge Matador Invitational in Simi Valley, CA.