It will take a strong finish, but Mountain View High girls golf coach Bruce Jaffe remains optimistic about his team’s chances of playing beyond the regular season.
Entering this week with a 5-3 record, the Spartans are in the running for a berth in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship tournament (top six teams qualify) and the Central Coast Section championships (top 16).
“I’m hopeful,” Jaffe said. “We’ve still got a way to go; four more matches to try to do our best.”
Mountain View sits in third place in the SCVAL El Camino Division, a spot below where the team finished last year. The 2021 Spartans not only qualified for the league tourney – which includes teams from the upper De Anza Division as well – but also for CCS. They came in fifth in the former and 11th in the latter.
With only the winners of the El Camino and De Anza divisions guaranteed berths in the Oct. 19 league championships at San Jose’s Santa Teresa Golf Club, Mountain View will likely be among the teams vying for one of the four remaining spots, determined by score differential.
The Spartans face even more scrutiny to be among the 16 teams chosen for CCS, scheduled Nov. 1 at Laguna Seca Golf Ranch in Monterey.
“It depends on record, differential and how we played in league,” Jaffe said. “Everything matters.”
If Mountain View doesn’t make it as a team, the coach is confident at least one of his players will qualify individually. Top player Kaitlyn Hahn ranks among the top 10 players in the entire SCVAL, with fellow senior
Michelle Liou and junior Maleah Lin also having strong seasons.
Hahn, a first-team all-leaguer a year ago, excels due to her “consistency, calm demeanor and putting, which is amazing,” Jaffe said. In last week’s 245-285 thumping of Homestead at Shoreline Golf Links, Hahn recorded three birdies en route to a nine-hole score of 38 (two over par).
Liou, a second-team all-leaguer in 2021, “bombs the ball,” the coach said. “She is extremely athletic and probably one of the longest hitters in the league.” She was the medalist in the Spartans’ two-stroke victory against Cupertino Sept. 1 at Deep Cliff Golf Course.
Lin “has a good overall game,” Jaffe said. “She’s super calm and her golf strategy IQ is high.”
Jaffe, in his third year as Mountain View’s coach, is also excited about the team’s trio of newcomers.
“We have three freshmen on the team, which is great news, since we had zero last year,” he said. “They’re promising and are committed to improving.”
One of these players is Jane Liou, Michelle’s sister. The others are Keya Bansal and Saahiti Bondalapati.
The Spartans, who went 1-2 last week, are scheduled to host Los Gatos 3 p.m. today at Shoreline.
