byFiona Crowley Special to The Pilot
Ursuline students Victoria Wright, Victoria Veator, Lily King, Alex Wright, Fiona Crowley, Cailin Kelly, and coach Linda Healy are the proud winners of the 2022 MIAA Girls Golf Championship. Pilot photo/courtesy Brendan Connelly
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Dedham -- Tuesday, June 7, 2022, is a day that will go down in Ursuline sports history, as the 12-1 girls golf team brought home the program's first-ever state championship. The Ursuline golf team took to Eastward Ho! Country Club in Chatham on a beautiful day by the waters of Pleasant Bay for the state championship tournament.
Eastward Ho! was a fantastic venue, offering beautiful conditions, lots of wind, deep bunkers, large hills, and fast greens, making the course the toughest the team had to play this season. After placing second at the North, West, and Central divisional tournament the previous week, it was unclear what the outcome would be on June 7.
Competing against six other teams, nerves were high but the Ursuline golfers did what they needed to do. A practice round beforehand and loads of support and encouragement from coaches, teammates, friends, family, and teachers back at school pushed the girls through the long, five-hour round. Head coach Linda Healy and assistant coach Peter Powers had been working with the girls all season, perfecting their swings and working on the mental game of golf. Healy always tells the girls just to focus on their own individual game and take the round each stroke at a time.
She told the Boston Globe, "They just really clicked together and they work as a team. It's an individual sport but it's also a team sport. They click so well and really respect each other and work well together."
Individually, sophomore Cailin Kelly shot an amazing 94, senior Alex Wright a 94, and freshman Vic Wright a 118 to push the team to being champions. Senior Lily King and junior Fiona Crowley were just short of placing in the top four players for the day.
Victoria Veator, a junior and the team's number one player, shot an 81 on the challenging course, leading Ursuline to victory. Just after her round ended, she ran into the clubhouse to tally up the team's total score to see how they were doing.
Veator told the Globe, "I was adding it up on my phone and I called Alex (Wright), 'I think we got it! I think we got it! Bring everyone down!"
When the final score of 390 appeared, the team knew they had secured the first-place title. Tears of joy and tight hugs were present in the team's huddle as they were filled with excitement and accomplishment. A banner will soon be hung in the Reynolds Center Gym with the team's successful victory and each player's name to commemorate this day for years to come.