This year’s golf team is winding down as the members play their last matches for the season. As a pioneer team for the school, the players have enjoyed a solid, if not an undefeated season.
“At first, I really had no idea what to expect,” said the No. 5 golfer junior Natasha Aleksic, “so every game we won was a bonus.”
In the girls’ last match on Oct. 15, they faced off against three teams—Burlingame, Capuchino, and rival Los Gatos at the Poplar Creek course. The No. 1 and No. 2 golfers sophomores Uttara Sivaram and Annaliese Parker tied, each with a score of 45, while the No. 4 golfer, freshman Jayten Weiss, shot a solid 50.
The flat terrain and wide fairways kept the girls’ scores low with a 195 overall. However, Burlingame beat Saratoga by a couple of strokes while Los Gatos took the crown, scoring a 176. Though disappointed by this loss, the Falcons were heartened by their victory over Capuchino.
Previously, the team had played Aragon, Mills and Capuchino in another three-way match on Oct. 13. Due to the recently aerated greens however, the course was in a bad condition, with sandy greens and large obstructions on every fairway. This, along with the usual difficulties posed by Saratoga’s hilly home course, caused uncharacteristically high scores on all sides. Although Saratoga failed to take first, losing to Mills, who shot a 203, they did beat Aragon and Capuchino by a fairly large margin.
While the team’s season was over after Oct. 15, two individuals, Sivaram and Parker, continued onto CCS Qualifiers at Poplar Creek on Oct. 23.
“It was exciting just to be able to compete for CCS,” said Parker.
The two played eighteen holes at the match against familiar faces from Aragon, Menlo-Atherton, Los Gatos, Burlingame and other teams that the Falcons had played sometime during their season. This time, however, the girls’ had to play from the men’s tees in order to qualify, and post a score of 93 or below.
Sivaram and Parker were confident at the end of nine holes, but they both faltered during the back nine. They shot slightly higher than usual, due to both the unfamiliarity of the last nine holes and the tension caused by fervent competition among the girls. Parker missed the mark by a few shots while Sivaram qualified with a teetering 92.
“The fact that I had to keep track of what I was shooting and what I had to shoot to qualify was pretty straining,” Parker said. “That was what bothered me the most.”
Sivaram participated in the CCS championships on Nov. 4, held at Monterey’s Rancho Cañada. Results were unable to be printed due to publication deadlines.
Although all the individuals in the team were not able to compete in CCS, the girls have enjoyed a memorable year of new beginnings, nostalgia and anticipation for the upcoming season.
“The best part of [the season] was being with the team,” No. 7 golfer junior Sharon Kikinis reflects. “We had a really fun group and we were constantly laughing—that was the best.”