SUTTON, Mass. – Looking to defend the crown, the University of New Haven Women's Golf team returned to work as they traveled to Blackstone National Golf Course looking to win their second consecutive conference crown. New Haven, represented by Erin Earl (London, England/Saffron Walden County Day), Wynter Flores (San Antonio, Texas/Incarnate Word), Isabella Thomas (Oxford, Conn./Laurelton Hall), Danielle Jastrab (Camino, Calif./Eldorado), and Sophia Silva (San Antonio, Texas/Incarnate Word) took on Blackstone National, the 18-hole Par 72 course for the two-day tournament.
New Haven came out of the gate strong as Earl and Flores led the tournament after the first day both carding +1 (73)s in their opening rounds. Earl who bogeyed her first hole responded with a birdie on the second to get back to even par. With a +1 front nine, itr was her finish that jumped her into a share of the lead and Earl eagled the Par 5, 18 to move her to +1 (73) for the opening round. Flores made the turn +2 (36) but responded with birdies on 10 and 18 to bookend the back nine with a -1 (35) and be in a share of the lead after the first round. Combined after the first round New Haven was tied with Franklin Pierce and the two teams were both +15 (303) battling it out for the conference crown. Day two saw a battle back and forth as a winner had to be named at the end of the round as New Haven looked to repeat as champions. Earl and Flores tied for the lead and were the last groups to tee off as it was Isabella Thomas (Oxford, Conn./Laurelton Hall) carding the best round for New Haven, +5 (77) to move her into a tie for 5 in the Championship.
On day two Earl would finish +6 (78) and would post a +7 (151) for the tournament to finish in solo second place and one shot off the winner from Franklin Pierce.
Flores would finish +8 (80) and would post a +9 (153) for the tournament to finish tied for third overall, two shots back of Earl and three back of the leader.
Isabella Thomas (Oxford, Conn./Laurelton Hall) played consistent carding +5 (77) in both rounds and carded New Haven's best round in the second round as she moved into a tie for fifth place in the tournament as she finished +10 (154).
Danielle Jastrab (Camino, Calif./Eldorado) finished in a tie for 13, as she carded an opening round of +8 (80), followed by a second round +12 (84) to shoot a +20 (164).
Sophia Silva (San Antonio, Texas/Incarnate Word) finished in a tie for 16, opening up with a first-round +11 (83) and carding a second-round +11 (83) to finish the tournament +22 (166).
Overall the Chargers finished second overall shooting a combined +45 (621) finishing nine shots back of Franklin Pierce after a late run on the back nine by New Haven to close the gap late.
The Chargers now will return to the course for a pair of tournaments to conclude the fall season. New Haven will return to Massachusetts and compete at the Holy Cross Women's Golf Invitational on Monday, October 21, and Tuesday, October 22. All updates, schedules, and post-round recaps for the team will be available at Newhavenchargers.com.
