Tuesday’s second round of Foothill League girls’ golf ended with West Ranch dominating both in individual and team play at the Oaks Club in Valencia.
The Wildcats led all teams, finishing with 193 strokes, beating the next closest team, Valencia, which shot 202, and concluded the tournament with four of their six golfers finishing in the top six.
After the tournament, West Ranch head coach Jeff Holen credited the team victory to the consistency the team has displayed all year.
“They all played consistent golf,” Holen said. “They don’t get excited about the big numbers. If they make a mistake, then the team says, ‘Let’s go do a little bit better next time.’ With that, they don’t play with emotions, they just play golf to enjoy the game.
The reigning Foothill League MVP, Valencia’s’ Eliana Saga, led all golfers with an impressive 34 (-2), but West Ranch golfer Kathryn Mong wasn’t too far behind as she would card a 35 (-1).
“She was frustrated with our first round, when we played at Sand Canyon,” Holen said. “I tried to tell her to play aggressive and she didn’t play bad, and she goes, ‘Oh, I lost a few strokes here or there.’”
In third was Chloe Busnaw who shot a 36 (E), and behind her was Phoebe Tsao 39 (+3) and Zoe Greif 40 (+4), who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
“Across the board this year as a team, I have a team motto that every stroke matters,” Holen said. “So, we plan the ball correctly if we have a penalty shot, a penalty stroke, we get aggressive. So, I keep telling them this isn’t going to be one on match one, two, three, four, five. It’s going to be one across the whole season.”
Saugus placed third at 263, 61 strokes behind the second-place Vikings.
As for the Wildcats, they are now 17-1-1 in the season and carry an undefeated record in the Foothill League with the team’s last loss coming against Oaks Christian in early September.
The goal moving forward for Holen and his team is to simply play consistently, as that’s the team’s goal to being successful this year.
“I really don’t think we’ve played the best that we can play,” Holen said. “Being consistent with yourself is how you play the game. In the end, if you’ve gone out there and done the best you can and eliminated the mental mistakes, that’s going to help us in the long run to put up a good score, and, like I said, every stroke matters.”
With three more rounds of Foothill League play, Valencia is right behind in the Foothill League to leaders West Ranch, and with the new CIF rules, the only goal and priority for Holen and the Wildcats is to win the Foothill League title.
“If you take second place, you might not get into the CIF championship,” Holen said. “Those are filled with championship teams, especially since we are ranked in the top 20. So, our goal is to definitely to come out on top with another league championship.”
The third round of the Foothill League is set to begin noon Tuesday at the Oaks Club.
