Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
GOSHEN - When it comes to Northern Lakes Conference girls golf, it just doesn't get any better than this. Take three teams with combined records of 28-2 on the season and match them up against each other in an event that more-than-likely will decide the regular season conference champion.
That's what transpired Tuesday at Maplecrest Golf Course when 11-1 Goshen, 10-0 Warsaw and 7-1 NorthWood took to the links.
To be honest, those records are a bit misleading. In all reality, Goshen should probably be undefeated after a loss to No. 11 Penn. The Redskins have outshot Penn three times in various tournaments throughout the year, but Penn beat them in a head-to-head meet. Goshen also beat the No. 20 team in the state, Fort Wayne Northrop, by more than 40 strokes the last time they faced each other, yet the Redskins aren't ranked and those others are.
Tuesday, Goshen took a large step toward the conference crown by shooting a 174 as the home team, while Warsaw placed second with a 195, and NorthWood third with a 217. The split gives the Tigers solid footing for second place in dual meets, but head coach Bob Turner wants more than that.
"We're not going for second," Turner said after the match. "We're going to try to beat them (Goshen) in the conference (meet). We're going to let it all go because we've got nothing to lose. But we're in a good position right now."
The big difference between Goshen and Warsaw came at the No. 1 spot. The Tigers' Ashley Cooper struggled a bit in shooting a 53, while Goshen's Erin Sample put together a 3-over 39. Cooper had a feast-or-famine round, shooting an eight, a nine and a 10 while also birdieing the par-3 hole No. 6.
"Ashley was a little bit off tonight, but she's been there for us before," Turner said. "Our underclassmen played pretty well and pretty steady."
The scores for the golfers shooting in the second, third and fourth slots were actually very close for both Warsaw and Goshen. The Tigers' Keri Wrobel, Tosha Nance and April Turner put together two 47s and a 48 without shooting worse than a seven on any hole. Goshen, on the other hand, had a 44, a 46 and a 49 from those three spots.
"We had to have a split," Turner said. "So I'm happy right now. On the outside, they were wanting to win, but on the inside where they live at they knew this was going to be a difficult match."
NorthWood's Jill VanBruaene paced the Panthers with a 51 while Michelle Taylor had a 52.
Goshen improves to 13-1 on the year and 5-0 in the NLC. Warsaw (11-1, 4-1) will be at Plymouth Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and NorthWood (7-3, 1-3) will host Wawasee and Northridge Thursday at the same time.
