In a pivotal match for the Mission League’s regular season standings, the young varsity girls’ golf team lived up to the pressure, defeating new league rival Marlborough (5-3 overall, 4-2 in league) by a slim 208-215 margin at the Encino Golf Course on Tuesday. Marlborough had topped Harvard-Westlake by one stroke at the Sept. 23 league-wide Mid-Season Tournament, but the Wolverines took advantage of their second chance at the Mustangs with the close win.

The Wolverines’ depth was on display again, as all five Wolverine scorers finished within a few shots of each other. Karina Gou ’18 and Lauren Song ’16 led the squad by shooting 40 apiece, Josie Baker ’18 dropped 41, captain Vivian Lin ’16 shot a 43, and Chantalle Wang ’17 rounded things off with a 44. Carolyn Hong ’17, whose score wasn’t included in the final margin because league matches only count five golfers, wasn’t too far behind the pack, shooting 47 on the day. The match was filled with highlights, as Song, Wang, and Lin all had birdies in their respective rounds. Overall, the team’s score of 208 was its lowest in its three matches at the Encino Golf Course this season, showing that the Wolverines are continuing to improve despite possible fatigue from playing 18 holes on Monday at the Walnut Mustang Invitational.

“Today was a good victory for our squad.  All our players dug deep after a long day of golf yesterday at the Invitational in [the City of] Industry. We are becoming more consistent as the season progresses,” a satisfied Marge Chamberlain said.

Harvard-Westlake moves up to 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the Mission League, and is now the only team besides unbeaten Sherman Oaks Notre Dame to have less than two dual match losses in league play. The Wolverines will hit the road on Thursday, heading to the Woodland Hills Country Club for their final regular-season match against Louisville (1-3 overall, 1-3 in league) at 3:15 P.M. From there, the Wolverines get some nice recovery time, as the Mission League Team Finals won’t take place until Oct. 20.