Foothill League girls’ golf remains tight and consistent as the Valencia Vikings won another close match on Wednesday at Vista Valencia golf course.
Valencia won the match with 188 strokes, four ahead of the silver West Ranch Wildcats.
West Ranch again saw another solid performance from Kathryn Mong, who medaled with a 28-stroke performance (-3). Mong shaved three strokes off of her first league match at Vista and remains the frontrunner in the Foothill League.
The Vikings won behind another steady performance across the lineup. Freshman Kara An led Valencia with an even par of 30 strokes. Lauren Silva trailed with 33 strokes, her same finish as last week at Vista.
“Kara is definitely in the mix for league MVP,” Valencia coach Robert Waters wrote in an email. “There are a few other girls, Jillian Leh included, that will make it an exciting and close finish. The top end of the league has played some outstanding golf these past two matches. I expect that to continue.”
Leh finished with 34 strokes while Valencia’s Ben Yoo and freshman Kiara Jang both ended the day with 38 swings.
For the Cats, Ashmita Goel ended the day with 36 strokes (+5), Chloe Basnawi tallied 37 while Kate Yi, Eva Lee and Noami Kim all finished at 38.
For Saugus, Khloe Guerrero led the team with 42 strokes, one ahead of teammate Mariane Meadows.
Guerrero, Goel and all of the group one golfers came out hot and birdied on their second hole.
Mong and An then finished even stronger, with eagles on their final holes.
Valencia’s young team has shown resilience and poise for its age. Waters has usually seen consistency mixed in with rookie mistakes.
“We still have our good days and bad as a team at times,” Waters added. “The main goal is to continue to improve each week, which we’ve been able to do thus far.”
The Vikings now hold a five-stroke lead with four league matches to go. All it takes is one off day to turn the tides in the Wildcats’ favor, and head coach Jeff Holen knows his veteran group will be ready to capitalize.
Foothill League golfers return to action on Thursday at the Oaks Club at Valencia. The first round of golfers tees off at 12:30 p.m.
