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04/17/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2024 11:35

Women’s Golf Going for Fourth Patriot League Title This Weekend

Women's Golf Going for Fourth Patriot League Title This Weekend

Members of the Boston University women's golf team after capturing the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pa., in September 2023. The Terriers will play the same course this weekend for the Patriot League championship. Pictured above: assistant coach Claire Edwards (left), Hibiki Adachi (CAS'27), Annika Manjunath (CAS'25), Madison Takai (Questrom'27), Victoria Takai (Questrom'25), Meiqi Gao (COM'25), Christy Chen (CAS'25) and head coach Bruce Chalas. Photo courtesy of Bucknell Athletics

Athletics

Women's Golf Going for Fourth Patriot League Title This Weekend

Terriers will compete at Bucknell Golf Club

April 17, 2024
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After losing their conference championship crown to the University of Richmond last year, the Boston University women's golf team has one goal going into this weekend: regain the Patriot League title.

The Terriers and the six-team PL field will send six golfers apiece to Bucknell Golf Club in Lewisburg, Pa. to battle for gold, starting Friday. After three rounds, being played April 19 to 21, the lowest team score-compiled from each squad's best four scores in each round-will crown the victor.

Bruce Chalas, team head coach, says Meiqi Gao (COM'25) will tee off first, followed by Amy Han (COM'27) and 2023 Patriot League Golfer of the Year Christy Chen (CAS'25). Next will be Annika Manjunath (CAS'25), cocaptain Victoria Takai (Questrom'25), and Hibiki Adachi (CAS'27).

"We collectively feel very optimistic," says Takai. "We had a great win this past weekend by a large margin, so we're feeling good with where our game is at. Overall, everyone's just really excited to get going. We've been looking forward to this the entire year."

The Terriers enter championship play coming off their third invitational victory of the season, the Hartford Hawks Invitational April 13, where they defeated .runner-up and Patriot League foe Holy Cross by 36 strokes. The following day, the Terriers beat Holy Cross in match play, 16.5 to 4.5.

"I'm feeling fantastic," Chalas says. "We've been making a lot of progress all year, more progress as the spring has evolved, especially in the last three or four weeks. There's lots of optimism, we're excited to play, and we want to play."

In fact, the Terriers have been winners from the outset of the season. They captured the Bucknell Invitational at Bucknell Golf Club (the same course as this weekend's championship) on September 9 and 10, finishing 48 strokes over par and edging host school Bucknell (+56)by 8.

"It was great to get the win the first time around when we traveled there," Takai says. "But I think that in terms of our expectations for this coming weekend, they're a lot higher than the first time. We've made so much progress this entire year, and everyone's game has progressed since then. So really, we're looking to change nothing from how we played this past fall, and I think [we're] just keeping those feelings of optimism going into this week."

Cocaptain Victoria Takai (Questrom'25) at the 2023 Patriot League Championship. Photo by Eliza Nuestro

Chalas says this year's squad is one of the youngest he's coached in a long time. Two of this weekend's six golfers are freshmen-Han and Adachi-and only Takai, Chen, and Manjunath, all juniors, were on the 2022-2023 team.

"We have a lot of new players this year," Takai says. "Everyone has brought a very fresh perspective, and the energy we have this year is definitely unmatched compared to previous years. So I think just the fact that we have each other to lean on this week is going to be huge. And we've proven that we can face adversity and get past it."

To counter the squad's youth, Chalas says, the team has been dogged in practice.

"The girls have been working hard all year. They're often in the swing room and most of them work out five days a week because they want to. This year has been by far the best practicing team we've had at BU. This team wants to play golf and practice. It's a lot of fun."

If they win the Patriot League tournament this weekend, the Terriers will clinch an automatic qualification to the NCAA Regionals, which begin May 6. Last year, Chen, as the individual medalist of the 2023 PL Championship, was BU's sole participant in the NCAA's. She tied for 53rd in the Regional pool.

"Everyone on the team knows our goal is to win the Patriot League, and that will advance us into the NCAA Regionals," Chalas says. "Everyone knows the short-term and the long-term goals and just tries to take one step at a time. This is the first time we've talked about getting past the regionals and potentially to the finals, which is challenging for anybody in the country to get to that point. But we're having that conversation, and it's a goal we have. There's no reason we can't do it."

The Boston University women's golf team will tee off on Friday, April 19, in the 2024 Patriot League championship tournament at Bucknell Golf Club in Lewisburg, Pa. Live statistics will be posted here, and updates will be posted live via Twitter @BUGameDay and @TerrierGolf.

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  • Charles Moore (COM'24)

    Charles Moore (COM'24) is pursuing a degree in journalism with a minor in history. He works in the Worcester Red Sox front office and is the Head Delegate for BU's competitive Model United Nations Team. Charles is from Wayland, MA., and has seen a home game of all 30 Major League Baseball teams. He can be reached at [email protected]. Profile

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