As she approached the last hole of the state tournament, sophomore Kacie Moon was faced with some obstacles. From the view of the tee box, there was a creek to the left and a fairway bunker to the right. Driving the ball off the tee, Moon sliced it, and the ball faded to the right of the fairway into the trees. Using a punch shot to hit the ball out from under the trees, Moon was able to save for par to finish the tournament with a 147 over the course of two days which is three over par.

“That [hole] also helped us tie Stevenson, and actually I had to make that [par] to place top 10 individually,” Moon said.

To break the tie between Glenbrook North and Stevenson, the fifth best score from each team was added to the team’s overall score, resulting in GBN getting third place by one stroke. The third place state trophy is the first girls golf state trophy in team history, and the first state trophy earned by a girls athletic team since 1987.

The team was faced with some cold weather at the state tournament.

“I didn’t play too well on the first few holes because I was wearing too many layers,” freshman Martha Kuwahara said. 

Over the two days of competition, Kuwahara and Moon tied for 8th place individually with a score of 147, just three over par.

The team had a fantastic season winning all conference matches and finishing first in the conference tournament, regionals and sectionals, head coach Mike Schroeder said. 

“[The golfers on the team] play [in] outside tournaments and practice on their own,” said Schroeder. “I think that year-round dedication to the sport is really what gave them the edge.”