After weeks of being forced to practice indoors, Northwestern is finally ready to start its spring season competition. The team is armed with a pair of new strong freshmen, who are on par with the rest of the team and ready to play.

The team lost some players due to graduation, including an experienced fifth-year senior, but the freshmen make up for their losses.

Senior captain Katie Trachok describes it as a “give and take” situation.

“I definitely think that they are the most talented freshman class that I’ve seen throughout my years here,” Trachok said.

“I just think that they are ready to compete at this level, where a lot of times the freshmen come in and they need to adjust the way they play their game or work on things to improve their game.”

The upperclassmen on the team bring experience as well as skill to the course.

“We have a lot of players who have played a number of years on the team, and they are really strong for us,” Trachok said.

Back in the fall NU played in several different tournaments. The Wildcats had their best showing at their final tournament of the fall, the Challenge at Wolfdancer, held in Texas. The team won the tournament, beating their closest opponent by five strokes.

During the winter, the team utilizes different off-campus facilities to practice, along with practicing on the turf at the stadium. They go to indoor driving ranges where they can see ball flight for up to 100 yards.

The women also spend a lot of time working on technique – they videotape their swing to improve – and work on their chipping and putting.

The Cats also do yoga and lift weights to increase their fitness.

The team had its first opportunity this winter to play on real grass when they traveled to California the weekend of Feb. 15 for an alumni shootout match.

The following week, the team officially kicked off its spring season at the Central District Invitational held in Parrish, Fla., on Feb. 18-19, where the team finished 13th overall.

In the final round of play, freshman Rebecca Lederhausen sank her first career hole-in-one. She led the team individually at the tournament, finishing 18th overall.

“(Our finish was) not as good as we had hoped, but it is the first tournament,” Lederhausen said. “We have been playing indoors, and we haven’t even seen grass in a while, so it will get better.”

At the end of the season, the Cats hope to qualify for the NCAA regional tournament. For the time being, however, they are focusing on the individual goals they set.

“We set individual goals, and we all know that if we achieve our individual goals, our team goal will fall in place as well,” Trachok said.

The team is next in action at the Texas A&M “Mo”morial tournament the weekend of March 7-9 in Bryan, Texas.