CAP-7 CONFERENCE GOLF
Alli Mossinghoff and the Leesville Road girls golf team are in second place heading into the Cap-7 Conference's finale at The TPC at Wakefield Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Wakefield golf wins again;
Pride in battle for second place
Yelle earns low medalist honors with 38 Tuesday
While the Wakefield girls golf team has all but engraved its name on the Cap-7 Conference title — the Lady Wolverines' win at Hedingham Golf Club Tuesday was their sixth consecutive victory — there is plenty of competition to watch at next week's league finale.
Following its second-place finish Tuesday, Leesville Road staked a one-point advantage over Broughton in the team standings heading into Tuesday's match at the TPC at Wakefield.
Although only bragging rights are on the line — there is no playoff or postseason bid on the line — it should be fun to watch.
And the Pride controls its own destination, having to only defeat the Capitals to take the spot behind Wakefield. A Broughton win draws the two teams even — depending on their finishes.
Leesville secured this advantage by continuing to get better through the season — not counting a fourth-place hiccup at Wil-Mar Sept. 9.
"The thing about our girls is they have shown steady improvement," said Pride head coach Andy Hunt. "We started where I don't think we anticipated starting at the beginning of the year. And they have had to work hard to trim strokes off their game."
Senior Kaity Fuqua and sophomore Alli Mossinghoff have been the catalysts for the Pride's upswing.
"Both of those girls are really athletic, and you can tell they have been putting in the work to get better and improve their games," the coach said.
Fuqua's play has been especially strong in recent weeks, recording rounds of 40 at Wildwood Greens, 41 at Olde Liberty and 41 at Hedingham Tuesday.
Mossinghoff (45) was just four shots behind Fuqua Tuesday, and teammates Mariah Hopkins (48) and Mary Lee Free (50) rounded out Leesville's scoring. Hopkins' 48 beat her previous best by five strokes. For full results, click here.
Although Leesville has momentum heading into the TPC match, Hunt warned second place isn't wrapped up by any means.
"It is too soon to say how it will all work out," he said. "The TPC is a tough course, and our girls haven't played there very often. But it's nice to be leading Broughton heading into the match."
Wakefield sophomore Stephanie Pribonic lines up a putt during Tuesday's match at Hedingham.
Entering the season, Hunt explained the conference appeared to be an open competition, given the number of notable graduation losses. But Wakefield quickly established themselves as the frontrunners with the addition of newcomers Morgan Schultz and Stephanie Pribonic
"If you look at everyone who left, Courtney McKim was gone and Wake Forest-Rolesville graduated a lot of good players, I thought we had a pretty good chance [to win the conference]," he said. "But I wasn't anticipating the two new superstars at Wakefield."
Pribonic, a sophomore, and Morgan, a freshman, continued their impressive seasons Tuesday, shooting 39 and 41, respectively. Pribonic finished her round with three straight birdies.
But it was senior Katie Yelle who shined the brightest for the Lady Wolverines this week, earning low medalist honors with a round of 38.
The upperclassman's score was even more impressive considering she is overcoming a wrist injury, Wakefield coach Rick Riggleman pointed out.
The combination of Yelle, Schultz and Pribonic have been too much for the competition this season, winning or sharing low medalist honors in five of the six conference matches.
Fellow Lady Wolverine Katie Michalak put together her second-best round of the season, shooting a 47.
In other action Tuesday, Sanderson placed sixth, with a team score of 153, and Millbrook (162) took seventh.
The Lady Spartans were led by Jessica Perez's 49, with Najah Owens (50) and Alexandra Stewart (54) not far behind.
Alex Klimczyk and Sarah Bashford both shot 53 to lead Millbrook.
The Cap-7 Conference finale at the TPC at Wakefield kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 3 p.m.
If Wakefield can pull out a victory on its home course, it will have won all seven league matches this season. WF-R completed the same feat last season.
