By Ryan Menzie
Signal Sports Writer
The West Ranch Wildcats girls golf team finished the 2020 season at the top of the Foothill League. They now turn to the 2021 to repeat their performances.
The Sept. 14 Foothill League matchup at Vista Valencia proved no different for the Wildcats as they finished in first place once again. West Ranch finished with 172 points, 12 points better than the Valencia Vikings, who finished in second place.
“It’s nice when you have a team that you expect to do great things and they end up meeting your expectations,” said Wildcats coach Jeff Holen. “My goal was to have the upperclassmen walk and talk with the lower classmen to grow and learn together.”
The Wildcats were led by Eunice Yi and Ashmita Goel with 32 strokes, going one-under par. The leader of all golfers was Viking Jillian Leh, who finished with 30 strokes, finishing three-under par. Despite Leh’s efforts, the Wildcats’ 34-stroke average for qualified scorers proved to be too much to handle.
Yi attributes her score to the amount of work she put in on her putting game.
“I just tried to make sure that I could get it in instead of doing a few strokes,” said Yi. “I took care of my mental game. I just want to keep practicing on my putting and the team has been working on their short game as well. If we can put it all together, we will be fine for our next match.”
The Hart Indians finished not too far behind the Vikings, finishing with 205 strokes. The Indians were led by Peyton Grider, who finished with 34 strokes, good enough for one-over par. The Saugus Centurions finished in fourth with 261 strokes and were led by Brooke Maxwell, finishing with 38 strokes.
The Golden Valley Grizzlies and the Canyon Cowboys, who are both in rebuild mode, finished in fifth and sixth place. The Grizzlies finished with 279 strokes and were led by Kalia Jones with 49 strokes. The Cowboys did not have enough players to qualify for a score due to needing a minimum of five players. The Cowboys only had three.
Despite not being able to score, the Cowboys were led by Vivian Lee, who finished with 40 strokes.
The Foothill League’s next matchup was scheduled to be played Tuesday at Hansen Dam.
