With a significantly improved record of 8-4, the Saint Francis girls’ varsity golf team earned themselves a place in the Central Coast Section (CCS) playoff tournament on November 4 at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey. Overall, the girls placed well in both the team and individual matches, with a group result of 8 out of 15 schools and standouts like Jiana Park (’27) placing 25 out of 118 students in the individual championship.
Over the past couple of years, the team has suffered from a poor record—barely being able to reach a 0.500 conference win percentage—and consistently being swept by dominant teams such as Valley Christian and Saint Ignatius. Yet this year has looked far different with a 0.700 win percentage and tight matches between Valley Christian and Saint Ignatius, where they only lost by three strokes and six strokes, respectively. The team had two four-game winning streaks in their season, an improvement from past years. In addition to an overall better record, they also placed second of seven at the West Coast Athletic League (WCAL) Jamboree and third of seven in the WCAL League Tournament. The Lancers did an impressive job of staying consistent and competitive to place third in the season standings, which was necessary for their CCS hopes.
An important piece in helping improve the team was an increased interest by the freshmen. Veronika Borowicz (’26) explained that because girls’ golf hasn’t been as popular in recent years, they haven’t been able to add much new talent to their roster to help improve their score; however, that changed this year when an increased attendance at tryouts led to impactful additions. Praised by Borowicz, Kylie Cervantes (’26), and Sandra Ximen (‘26), Audrey Yang (’29) and Lauren Lind (’29) were “strong additions to the team” who helped the team decrease their game scores in both regular season and postseason. Both girls were chosen to represent the team at CCS playoffs, where Yang placed 53rd and Lind placed 76th in the individual championship. Both are impressive placements for their first time, and contributed significantly to the team’s eighth place finish.
There’s no doubt that these season improvements would not have been possible without some adjustments on an individual level from everyone. Borowicz explained that the coaches put a larger emphasis on “a positive mindset” in addition to “practice on weekends” which all the girls put into action this year. The players practiced more often in the offseason to improve their swing and stopped lingering on mistakes during the matches. In a close game, the ability for them to move onto the next match with a fresh mindset made a drastic difference in improving their season, as “the smallest thing can make the biggest distinction.”
This Girls’ Varsity Golf season is something the team hasn’t seen for a long time; it’s a sign for even better seasons to come as the team continues to improve, and prepares to flourish at the CSS Playoffs in the future!
