It took a junior varsity freshman to get the Arizona men's golf team back on track as they won their first team tournament of the year this weekend, beating two of the top teams in the country on their way to the title in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Wildcats have been far from their preseason No. 11 ranking heading into this weekend. A ninth place finish in their debut tournament and a 12th place in The Preview seemed to show the Wildcats in a slump as they entered the post-Chris Nallen era.

The story of the week was the play of freshman Travis Esway.

Esway played in the junior varsity Ron Moore Invitational last Tuesday in his first collegiate start that earned him a spot on the varsity squad for this weekend.

Esway tied for 16th place, highlighted by a second-round 69 that had him in 12th place going into Sunday's round.

The team was led by sophomore Henry Liaw who found himself alone in first place following the second round but finished in a tie for third place after closing with a 74.

Liaw was followed by senior Nathan Lashley, who finished alone in seventh place after an opening round 66 that marked a career best.

Arizona looked like they really missed the play of Nallen after their first two performances, but women's head coach Greg Allen said this should change all that.

"For them to win this early in the season has to be a huge confident boost," he said. "They've got a lot of talent and a lot of depth."

Liaw was edged by arguably the two hottest amateur golfers in the world.

UNLV senior Ryan Moore closed with a final round 65 to take medallist honors, edging New Mexico's Spencer Levin in second place.

Moore won the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links this summer, becoming only the fifth golfer in USGA history to win two USGA events in the same year.

Levin won the Topy Cup, an event the Wildcats finished in ninth place, to begin the fall semester.

Women's golf finish tied for 12

If the Arizona women's golf team could finish a tournament the way they started, it would be a successful year thus far.

The Wildcats ended the Mason Rudolph Women's Championship in a tie for 12th after standing alone in fourth place following their opening round.

"Saturday, we finished poorly, and today we got off to an awful start," Allen said. "Mariam (Kraschinski), Lani (Elston) and Whitney (Welch) played the last five holes a combined five under par."

Arizona closed the tournament with rounds of 305 and 302, a combined 17 shots worse than their first round.

"We had a decent finish but still shot 302," Allen said. "We're making progress and we're just trying to stay positive."

Duke won their second tournament in as many weeks, closing with a final round 289 to edge host Vanderbilt by one shot.

Junior Cassandra Kirkland was tied for first after round one, opening with a 2-under-par 70, but finished with rounds of 79 and 77 to drop into a tie for 38th place.

Junior Lani Elston was the low finisher for the Wildcats, closing with an even-par round of 72 to jump 10 spots from 26th place to 16th place.

"We hit a lot of fairways, missed a lot of greens, didn't get the ball up and down a lot and had too many three-putts," Allen said. "Now we know what we need to work on."

The Wildcats have been on a grueling stretch, and Allen said he knew it was going to be tough on his team.

"We told the team early in the season that if we can get through the month of September, it will get better," he said.

The Wildcats concluded their third tournament in less than a month, including a trip to Japan to open their season.

Allen said he knows his team is ready for a break.

"We're just exhausted right now," he said.