Looking to continue their hot start, the women’s golf team hosted the NYU Invitational this weekend. With more solid and consistent play, the Violets finished second in the field of 11 teams at the Spook Rock Golf Course in Suffern, New York.

NYU was led by two freshmen and a sophomore, as Catherina Li, Jennifer Bluetling and Angela Yang, respectively, all posted top 10 scores.

Coming off of a top five finish in her last tournament, Li struggled a bit on Saturday, before storming back on Sunday to grab a tie for third. Her second round 71 was the best on the team this weekend. Yang also impressed, following up a strong showing two weeks ago with a tie for eighth place.

The Violets got off to a solid start on Saturday. Led by Yang’s 73, NYU finished the day with an overall score of 312, placing second. Bluetling and sophomore Alyssa Poentis also continued their solid play with matching scores of 79, good enough for both to crack the top ten.

Sunday’s second round was an improvement, with NYU shooting a 309. Despite a stronger performance, the Violets were only able to pull within seven shots of first place Williams College. Bluetling finished strong with a 76, compiling a total score of 155 and earning a seventh place finish.

Even with their recent showings, the Violets still have time to further develop their skills and strengthen the team.

“I don’t know if I can speak for the whole team, but I think we need to focus more on the mental aspect of the game, specifically being more optimistic,” Li said. “There were a lot of shots that a lot of us threw away because of simple stupid mistakes.”

Kristin Lee, who set the NYU women’s record for single round score and 36-hole score in their last tournament, felt they left something to be desired on certain holes.

“As a team, we left a lot of strokes out there and could have scored a lot better,” Lee said. “We’re still optimistic about the coming tournaments.”

Their progress is encouraging, and by the end of the season Li feels they’ll have something really special within reach.

“I feel we’re at a point where we have the potential of doing really well, but we’re still not playing at our optimum level yet,” Li said. “We were only eight shots behind last years’ national champions this tournament, and I feel that by the end of the season we’ll have a good chance at performing well at nationals.”

The season rolls on next Saturday, when the Lady Violets are back in action at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

A version of this article appeared in the Sept. 21 print edition. Email Michael Thompson at [email protected].