The women’s golf team finished this weekend’s tournament at Middlebury College in exactly the same place as it ended the week before—second of seven teams. But while their runner-up finish at Wellesley College came after a cancelled first round and as a result of consistency and depth, this week’s second-place finish required a second-day comeback and a strong individual performance from Hayley Milbourn ’11.

“We all have a strong drive to win and have been able to come back multiple times this season,” said Laura Monty ’12. The team finished Saturday’s round in fourth place, but was able to pass Mt. Holyoke and St. Lawrence Colleges on Sunday. Nevertheless, the Jeffs still finished 19 strokes behind first-place Middlebury. The team, however, claims not to be discouraged by the Panthers’ large margin of victory. “Middlebury had a large home-course advantage, particularly with the greens, which certainly gave us all some trouble this weekend,” said Monty.

Milbourn attributed the turnaround to the team’s mental approach. “Sunday, we all went into the tournament with a really positive attitude. Everyone seemed really refreshed, psyched and ready to prove that we were contenders.” All five scoring golfers (Milbourn, captain Kinne Schwartz ’10, Nina Yoo ’12, Monty and Elaine Lin ’12) lowered or equaled their first-round scores on the second day.

Milbourn, who dropped seven strokes on Sunday to finish with a 157, won the tournament and placed just ahead of two Middlebury competitors. It was Milbourn’s first win of the season and the sixth of her collegiate career.

At Williams College next weekend, the women will look to finish their fall season with a strong showing by remedying this week’s weaknesses. “Our team seems to always be playing catch-up,” said Milbourn. “If we can play our best from the moment we step on the course, we can go into the second day knowing that we don’t have to play catch-up, but rather that we can focus on trying to gain the lead and be as competitive as possible.”