UCLA Sports Information Freshman Gina
Umeck led UCLA to a fifth-place finish in the Edean
Ihlanfeldt Invitational.
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
They finished fifth out of 17 teams, but the women of the No. 16
UCLA golf team still weren’t satisfied with themselves at the
Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational. The tournament, hosted by
Washington, ran from Monday through Wednesday.
“I think we could do a lot better,” freshman Gina
Umeck said. “I don’t think anybody would be happy with
fifth place. We all expect more.”
The team shot a three-round score of 914, 50-over par and was
just one stroke out of fourth place and three stokes out of third.
UCLA finished behind No. 3 USC (896), No. 5 Stanford (908), No. 15
Arizona State (911) and No. 10 Pepperdine (913).
Umeck led the Bruins, finishing tied for eighth by shooting 225.
Senior Laura Moffat was second for the team in 14th place (228),
junior Alicia Um placed 17th (230), and redshirt freshman Saki
Uechi was 19th (231) to round out the scoring. True freshman
Johanna Andersson was the last Bruin, scoring 247 and placing
66th.
“I was generally pleased with the way the team
played,” head coach Carrie Leary said.
But she agreed with Umeck that the Bruins still weren’t
living up to their potential.
“Everybody this time seemed to step up and play, but we
didn’t play as good as we can,” she said.
One person definitely not happy with her finish was Moffat.
“I think the team’s finish was really good.
I’m really disappointed with my finish,” she said.
“I didn’t play well at the last tournament, I
didn’t really play well at this one either. It just seems to
be continuing.”
She can’t explain her slump.
“If I knew (what was wrong) then I’d probably be
playing better,” Moffat said.
Umeck may have led the team, but she wasn’t any more
satisfied than Moffat.
“I feel all right about (my finish), but I always feel
like I could do better. No matter what I shoot, that’s pretty
much the story with me,” she said.
The team was in fourth place after round one (where they shot
306) and in third place after round two (300), but shot 308 the
final day to slip back to fifth.
“We could’ve done really well overall had we shot a
decent round today,” Leary said. “It’s just that
everybody was struggling today, and I don’t know why. They
seemed a little bit more nervous.
“Golf is a funny game like that,” she continued.
“It’s hard to say why we didn’t play as well as
we should’ve or could’ve.”
But Leary was still able to find the positive in the
experience.
“It’s just about going out and trying to do better
next time,” she said. “At least we got a sense that
everybody can contribute and raise the team up.”