Girls golf: Prospect downs Fremd to remain unbeaten

The Prospect girls golf team had a formidable foe in Fremd Tuesday afternoon at Mount Prospect Golf Course.

The Knights came into the match 6-0 and the Vikings 8-0.

Something had to give.

For the Knights, Drake University-bound senior Kelly Kavanagh overcame a rough start to shoot 1-over par 36 in leading Prospect to a 165-190 decision.

The match was a Mid-Suburban crossover.

"I started out with two bogeys on the first two holes," said Kavanagh. "On the seventh hole (par 3) I shot a birdie and that got me back to one-over. I parred the last two holes."

Backing up Kavanagh was Bri Arzbabcher with a 42. Arzbabcher was the No. 6 player in coach Brad Rathke's lineup Bella Pesheck shot a 43 and Kavanagh's partner Olivia Accardi finished with a 44.

"The first two holes on this course can be tough," said Rathke. "If you can get past those you can come back."

Fremd, which on Monday defeated Buffalo and Rolling Meadows, came into the match with the confidence but a little fatigue set in the last few holes.

"The last few holes our muscles started feeling tight," said Fremd's Liz Prigge, who finished with a 46. "Playing them was a good game experience."

"We came into this match with a good positive mindset," said Kellie Liu, who led Fremd with a 45. "We didn't finish well by shooting bogeys on the last two holes."

Mayu Aso shot a 48 and McKenna Schneider finished at 51 for the Vikings.

Kavanagh, who has medaled in all nine matches this year, credited her work ethic.

"It's just practicing over the years," said Kavanagh. "Once I got my putting game down the rest kind of fell into place. I've just worked on different things to make myself be better.

"Even though we play individually, it's still a team game. We try to keep each other up."

Rathke agrees.

"She started playing at five years old," said Rathke of Kavanagh. "She constantly works on her swing. She wants to be good and not just OK."

Accardi sees excitement and fun in Kavanagh's game.

"It's always fun to be paired up with Kelly," said Accardi. "She's good on the course and encourages you to do your best."

Fremd's Jeremy Malinowski, in his first season as head coach but 12th in the program, feels the Vikings will be a team to reckon with down the stretch.

"We have six returnees with four of them being seniors," said Malinowski. "The day before we shot a 169 with all four girls in the 40s. We were hoping to do better today than we did. Today we got off to a rough start and then it became a grind. We haven't played our best yet this year. Today we just didn't compete well."