By Kevin Park
Staff Writer
The varsity girls’ golf team concluded its 2015 season at 7-1 in the Monteview league and 9-1 overall after facing CIF elimination.
The girls played 18 holes at the Los Serranos Golf Course in Chino Hills for team CIF. Junior Caitlyn Yamashita, sophomore Bethany Chen, sophomore Nicole Srisutham, junior Emily Swanson, and senior Christine Abbott participated in Monday’s event, but did not place high enough as a team to advance, marking their last game as a team for this season.
CIF playoffs began on Tuesday, October 20 and the Tigers played well in both Rounds 1 and 2 of Preliminaries. Yamashita, Chen, and Swanson all qualified to play on Monday, October 26 for the individual CIF competition. However, the girls did not advance in individual CIF.
South Pas was confident that it could be a tough competitor in the postseason after dominant performances in the regular season. Unfortunately, the squad’s young talent and past experience in playoffs were not enough to bring the golf team a postseason victory this year as the Tigers were outmatched by their opponents in CIF.
Overall, the girls had a successful season, earning their eighth straight league championship in the Monteview League, and clinching playoff spots in both team and individual CIF. Yamashita won the Monteview League MVP. Even with such accomplishments, the Tigers ended their eight-year undefeated streak in league play with a tough loss to Gabrielino High School. The loss did not phase the squad, however, as the girls finished the regular season by winning the rest of their league games.
“This season was special because of the way we handled adversity,” Abbott said. It was hard to lose a match, but we were able to overcome that and continue to make memories with each other.”