NEW HARTFORD, N.Y. – Competing for the first time as a team in the NESCAC Championship, the Wesleyan women's golf team showed out in a big way in the three-round tournament held at the Yahnundasis Golf Club. Wesleyan finished with a team score of 322-317-302-953, just 17 strokes behind the champion Middlebury, to finish in sixth place out of eight teams.
Mia Holbrook '27 made history, turning in a second place finish on the player leaderboard with a three-day total of 226 strokes, finishing just one stroke behind the individual champion (Euna Lee of Williams).
Wesleyan started the tournament with a 329 (+37) on Friday but bounced back in a big way with a 322 (+30) in round 2 on Saturday, and culminating with an impressive 302 (+10) on Sunday that was the low round on the weekend for any team in any round. The 302 on Sunday saw the Cardinals shoot at least nine strokes better than all five teams ahead of Wesleyan in the final team standings. In addition, Wesleyan piled up 30 birdies as a team, which was the most of any team in the field as the champion Middlebury recorded 26 throughout the three rounds. Holbrook and
Kayla Howell '26 tied for the lead among all players with nine birdies each while
Amanda Phillips '28 had eight herself.
Holbrook went sub-80 in each of her rounds, finishing with a three-day total of 226 that was second-best in the 30-player field. Holbrook started with an opening round 79 (+6) and then went 74-73 on Saturday and Sunday. She recorded four birdies on Saturday and three more on Sunday, shooting 36 (-1) on the front 9 in round 3. Holbrook's third round featured 12 pars, three birdies, and three bogies.
Phillips impressed on Sunday, firing in a 71 (-2) which tied for the low round of the weekend for any player in the field. Phillips went 79-84-71-234 (+15) for the weekend while she moved up 12 spots on the player leaderboard between her second and third rounds. Phillips went for a 36 (-1) with three birdies on the front 9 on Friday and really shined on Sunday in the back 9 where she carded a 33 (-3) with three birdies and six pars, going bogey-free over her final nine holes.
Howell came roaring back following her opening round 87, shooting 75-74 on Saturday and Sunday to move up over 20 spots on the player leaderboard across the final two days. Howell's 236 (+17) put her in a tie for 11
th place overall while her 149 combined score over the final two days was second-best in the entire field of golfers. Howell birdied three times on Friday, four on Saturday, and two more on Sunday to finish in a tie with Holbrook with nine birdies across the weekend. She shot even par on the back 9 on Saturday and fired in a 35 (-1) on the back 9 on Sunday. Howell's third round saw her tally 13 pars.
Rounding out the lineup for Wesleyan was
Jacqueline Neishabouri '25 and
Cecilia Roegner '27, both of whom were competing in the NESCAC Tournament for the first time. Neishabouri finished with a 86-89-84-259 to finish in 32
nd place, finishing strong with her low round on the weekend in what was the final round of her career on Sunday. Roegner went 85-91-87-263 to finish in a tie for 34
th place. Both Neishabouri and Roegner had two birdies in the three-day tournament.
