With two weeks off after a mediocre finish at Yale, the Harvard women's golf team feared that time may have made it rusty. However, this weekend's fifth-place showing against a strong 10-team field at the Mount Holyoke Invitational proved those worries unfounded.

The team came together to post four scores in the 80s for each day of play, leading to its lowest combined total for the year (694). Junior Megan Murray led the charge with a team low of 85 on the first day of play.

Rutgers placed first at the tournament, with a team score of 636. Hartford (654), Dartmouth (662), Yale (663) and Harvard rounded out the top five. Yale's Natalie Wong placed first, shooting a 154 over the two-day tournament.

"We really played well this weekend, with scores much lower than we usually post," said freshman Jocelyn Bosivich, who scored a 93-94--167.

The showing came in spite of distractions that plagued the Crimson last week and at the tournament. The team was only able to practice once last week due to downpours that saturated the greens.

"Normally, we get to hit the links every day before a tournament," Bosivich said. "Without much practice this week, we were forced to really work hard and step up our play at the tourney."

The first day of play on the rolling fairways was perfect for solid scores.

However, on the second day, rain pelted the course and took the roll out of the ball.

"Without much movement on the ball, we needed to judge distances and choose our clubs very carefully, which tried on us mentally," Bosivich said.

As if the rain was not enough, tournament officials required the players to evacuate the course after a fire department warning sounded.

While the Crimson was proud of its score, given the adverse circumstances, Harvard was surprised by its low finish.

"The field was really competitive and therefore our finish was lower than would normally occur with these scores," Bosivich said.

Coming off its best showing of the season, the Crimson now heads for Princeton next weekend to compete at the ECAC Championships, which concludes Harvard's fall season.

"The field at Princeton will be the most competitive of the season, with many non-Ivy League power-houses," Bosivich said.

For the Crimson, this tourney will be an important indicator going into the more competitive spring season.

"So far the season has been going really well," Bosivich said. "We really want to do well at Princeton so we can have a sense of closure going into the spring season."

If the Crimson can avert the rustiness, freak accidents, and adversity that have marked this season of astounding improvement over last, it has a sound chance of achieving that closure next weekend.