Girls golf: Lyne goes low again, leads Crystal Lake co-op to FVC crown

Crystal Lake co-op's girls golf team continued its domination of the Fox Valley Conference on Wednesday behind a player who is playing some dominating golf herself.

Junior Molly Lyne, fresh off a 68 last weekend in Freeport, fired a 72 at Crystal Woods in Woodstock to win the conference title by 5 shots over teammate Kat Bevill.

Crystal Lake's team total of 339 was eight shots ahead of runner-up Jacobs and gives both the team and Lyne a boost heading into their own regional next Wednesday at Turnberry Trail, their home course.

"I've been very confident in my game so it means a lot to me to shoot this," Lyne said. "And for next week a lot of confidence. This year I've been working really hard and I'm glad it shows."

Lyne improved her score 8 shots from last year's conference tournament on the same course. She shot a 37 on the front and 35 on the back making birdies on 3 of the 4 par-5s to offset 3 bogeys.

Lyne pointed to her putting for the biggest reason her scores are dropping.

"I made every putt (at Freeport)," said Lyne, who is drawing interest from Minnesota, Colorado and Indiana among other colleges. "Tee to green I've gained a lot of distance and my approach I give myself good putts that are makable. That is why my putting is improving because I'm giving myself putts that are makable. Less three-putts."

Coach Kyle McCaughn has been as impressed with Lyne's mental game as her physical skills.

"Molly is keeping herself in a great state of mind," McCaughn said. "She's staying focused one hole at a time. And it's great to see her having that success that she has worked so hard for."

"If I go up thinking I'm not going to make the putt I'm not going to make it," Lyne said. "Over every putt I hit I think it's going in. It's been working for me. My goal going into the playoffs was to be completely confident and not have any weaknesses to worry about so I can play my game and not have any fear about anything."

Renata Petersen (89) and Abby Rubsam (101) provided the other counting scores for Crystal Lake who has now won conference six straight years.

"I know it means a lot to the girls to keep that streak going," McCaughn said. "I always ask them to golf their best and keep their mind in the moment and things will take care of themselves and that happened today and we had enough good scores to beat out some good competition. I'm happy for them."

Lauren Kempf fired a 79 and Roslyn Leitner had an 80 leading Jacobs to second place. Both made all-conference which went to the top 14 finishers.

"Our team did really good," Kempf said. "There were a lot of PRs today. I think we all know our hard work is paying off. We should just keep practicing and do our best."

Kempf birdied 5, 15 and 18.

"I had a lot of up and downs today," Kempf said. "This season my chipping was a little off but I practiced a lot yesterday and I guess it paid off."

Huntley came in at 363 led by all-conference selections Katie Matustik (80) and Nina Shaffer (85).

Matusik hit all the par 3s in regulation to highlight her round.

"It could have been better, could have been worse," the junior said. "I have a couple things to work on. There were a couple holes I struggled on but I came back. All my tee shots were pretty decent but it was my short shots around the green I had a couple mishits."

Alyssa Trebat led Dundee-Crown (474) with a 91, and Gianna Farinella paced Hampshire (399) with a 94.