The Arizona women's golf team left Austin, Texas, yesterday with a thought head coach Greg Allen continually drills into their heads:
"When the door of the van closes, the tournament is over," he said.
The Wildcats finished the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in a disappointing ninth place after moving from 12th to sixth between the first and second rounds.
The team struggled all week with the course conditions and the windy south Texas weather, posting its two worst rounds of the spring in the first and third round.
Arizona has finished ninth in two consecutive tournaments, after this week and the tournament it hosted at the end of February.
Allen said he knows this spring has been disappointing thus far, but the players on his team are mentally strong enough to pull themselves out of the recent pothole.
"We're in a slump right now," Allen said. "We have to just play our way out of it."
The most positive performance of the week came from Cassandra Kirkland, who finished alone in sixth place after rounds of 74-80-77 for a total of 231, five shots behind individual champion Chris Brady of Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt not only took home the individual trophy but snatched the team title from host Texas, which had a six-shot lead over the Commodores heading into yesterday's final round.
Kirkland played impressively the last day, but a quadruple bogey on the 18th hole cost her dearly after she lost her ball and had to re-tee.
The sophomore from France finished her round strong as she birdied her last two holes, concluding the third top-10 finish of her collegiate career.
Kirkland finished in third place at the Fall Preview and in second place her freshman year at the Dr. Thompson Rainbow Invitational.
"The highlight of the week was Cassandra making the top-10," Allen said.
The Wildcats were without their top player, sophomore Erica Blasberg, as she is in California competing in her first LPGA major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, on a sponsor's exemption.
"We're obviously disappointed with the finish, but we knew it would be a tough test without Erica," Allen said. "We have a week to get ready for Arizona State and we'll be going with Erica back in the lineup."
Junior Mar Garcia finished in the top 30, shooting rounds of 82-78-81.
Also in the mix for the Wildcats was redshirt sophomore Lani Elston, who finished in a tie for 34th after closing with a 79.
The Wildcats have a week off before they tee it up again in Tempe for the Ping/ASU Invitational, an event they finished fifth at last year.