“She did great,” Rhoads said. “I was very pleased with her jumping in the lineup quickly and contributing right away.”

Harvard captain Mia Kabasakalis tied for 67th overall with a 241 (81-79-81), and rookie Fritzi Reuter rounded out the squad in 88th place after accumulating a total of 251 (84-83-84).

The par-72, 6,247-yard mountain course presented a unique challenge for the Crimson golfers, as it features an elevation difference of nearly 600 feet between its highest and lowest points.

“It’s a little bit different from normal clubbing situations,” Rhoads said. “The greens were quite firm and really undulating...it certainly favored those who were playing extremely well.”

And that phrase would not accurately describe the Crimson’s current state, after only two and a half weeks’ worth of practice to shake off the rust accumulated during summers filled with non-golf activities.

As a comparison, Harvard placed three competitors within the field’s top 30 at last year’s Conference Challenge.

More revealingly, the Crimson placed a disappointing sixth at the Princeton tournament two weekends ago.

“We’re still trying to exactly find our identity,” Rhoads said. “I thought that this fall would be a challenging fall for us...I didn’t think it would be quite this challenging at this point, but I tend to think things like this are good for a team.”

The next opportunity for Harvard to prove its coach right will come this weekend, when the squad heads to the Keystone State to compete in a tournament hosted by Penn State.

—Staff writer Dennis J. Zheng can be reached at dzheng12@college.harvard.edu.