Freshman Hannah Buck hits her tee shot at last week’s Illinois College Lady Blues Invite. Buck shot a school-record 75 last weekend and followed with a 79 and 75 to tie for third at last weekend’s Wartburg Fall Invitational, which the Lady Bears won for their first-ever major tournament title. (Chris Mitchell | Washington University Sports Information Director)

In the process, the Lady Bears defeated two schools ranked in the top 25 in Division III golf: No. 16 University of St. Thomas and  No. 23 Wartburg College. The Bears also defeated No. 26 Carleton College.

“I didn’t have to tell them anything. They came in ready,” head coach Sean Curtis said.

“On the second day, we were like people in the army or something,” senior Margaret Manning said. “We just had a goal in mind, eyes on the prize. All the girls on the team just did phenomenally well.”

Leading the surge was freshman Hannah Buck, who shot a 154 (79-75), placing third overall in the field of more than 100 girls.

“My short game was definitely a strength for me,” Buck said. “I was very up and down, so it definitely helped.”

“She’s just got a good all-around game. She drives the ball well. She’s accurate,” Curtis said. ”You can count on her making those 5- or 6-footers…and she very rarely makes a bad shot.”

Manning also had a strong tournament, finishing seventh overall with a score of 157 (79-78).

“The strongest part of my game was by far my putting.” Manning said. ”If I could get a putter on it, it was pretty much going to be a two-putt.”

Senior captain Kris Zeschin finished third on the team and eighth overall in the tournament, shooting a 158 (83-75) over both days.

“It was mostly about keeping my confidence and keeping the momentum I had especially in my short game,” Zeschin said.

Freshman Melanie Walsh finished with a 162 (84-78), placing 13th overall, and junior and co-captain Kathleen Pettinato shot a 171 (86-85), finishing in 29th place.

The strong performances from the green across the board were no coincidence, as Curtis expected this would be a deciding factor for success in the tournament. “We’ve talked a lot about putting the last week, really,” Curtis said. “We’ve been making sure that they get a lot of repetitions in.”

Despite this huge victory, the Lady Bears are still hungry and motivated to improve on this success in the coming weeks.

“We are proud of our accomplishments, but we are not satisfied because we have more to go,” Curtis said. “We can be happy for the moment, but there is a lot of work to be done.”

Even with Buck’s top-10 performances in each of the first three tournaments this year, she, too, is not yet content.

“Everyone has a few things to work on,” Buck said. “I definitely have a few things I want to tweak for next weekend.”

The Lady Bears aim to improve on their stellar performance last weekend at the Illinois Wesleyan Fall Classic on Sept. 19-20.

“The next tournament is one that we are all motivated for anyway because it is as competitive a field as we’re going to play,“ Zeschin said. “Golf is definitely a game of confidence, so this is going to help us a lot.”