The St. John’s women’s golf team entered the 2006 Dartmouth Women’s Invitational with four freshmen and their lone returning golfer, junior Brittany Lambertson. While the Red Storm were unable to finish in the top three on day one, two of their golfers were. Lambertson and freshman Samantha Tejada both finished at a two above par 74.

Heading into the second day, the Red Storm’s combined score of 308 strokes landed them in fourth place, 11 strokes behind the leader. Harvard, led by Sarah Harvey who had the best score of the day with a four below par 68, finished with a combined score of 297. The Red Storm also trailed Yale University and Siena College by two strokes each. Siena College’s leader was Laura Woolgar, who shot a two below par 70 that was good for second overall. Yale’s best golfer for the day was Cindy Shin with a two above par 72, which tied her with Tejada and Lambertson for third individually.

The fourth place finish wasn’t a result of only two golfers, however. The other freshmen also stepped up. Renee Cloutier finished the day with a five above par 77, tying her with four other golfers in 14th place. Ashley Szewczuk shot an 83 but she was tied for the fourth best score on the back nine with a 35. The last Red Storm freshman in the tournament, Lauren Milosh, finished only one stroke behind Szewczuk with 84 strokes.

The young Red Storm was able to hold its own in the first tournament of most of their college careers. The future of women’s golf looks bright, and it is starting now.

Men’s Golf

The Red Storm men’s golf team finished as the third place team in Friday’s Rutgers Invitational. The team was led by junior Keegan Bradley, who shot a three-under par 139 over the course’s two rounds. He took second place individually.

George Zolotas ranked fourth individually with 141 strokes, one under par. Kevin Vallardo (148), Dan Mellicone (152), and Joe Yastrub (159) rounded out St. John’s (580) attack. The match was Mellicone’s first collegiate outing.

Seton Hall finished in first place at 574 strokes, despite not having an individual golfer in the top five. Villanova took second place and also fielded Steve Arnold (139), who tied Bradley for second place overall. Columbia (580) tied St. John’s for third place.

The first place golfer was Jason Parajeckas (137) from U. Connecticut (588). His team finished in eighth place.