Aliso Niguel Takes Second in Golf Finals

University High’s dominance in girls’ golf ended Tuesday during the CIF-WSCGA Championships at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta.

Aliso Niguel completed a season-long rise to prominence by shooting a team total 245 and finishing second Tuesday in the season-ending event, 12 strokes behind Del Mar Torrey Pines. University, the defending champion, shot 247 and tied for third.

But the shift in power does not stem only from Aliso Niguel’s finish Tuesday. Carling Cho of Dana Hills, who shot 74 and tied for third in the individual race Tuesday, said she will transfer to Aliso Niguel next year.

The Wolverines already have four starters returning, led by freshman Leisl Hasbrouck, who won the Sea View League individual title.

The addition of Cho, the two-time South Coast League champion and third-place finisher in the Southern Section finals this month, gives Aliso Niguel depth unprecedented in girls’ golf and makes the Wolverines favorites to win it all next season.

But before the Wolverines fasten the targets to their backs, they might want to confer with University.

The Trojans have played the last two years under the heavy burden of high expectations and Tuesday the weight became too much to bear.

Top player Angela Won shot 79 and No. 2 Sunny Lee, who recently signed with UC Irvine, shot 80. Both scores were high for the talented twosome.

“There was a lot of pressure,” University Coach Patti Anduri said.

It’s only the second time in three seasons that the Trojans, winners of two Southern Section titles and undefeated in regular season matches over the last three years, have been defeated. The other time was the 1999 Southern Section championship, when they finished fourth.

“There was some great golf out there--we’re not disappointed,” Anduri said. “I’ve said all along that on any day, any team can get beat.”

Two weeks ago, Aliso Niguel seemed unlikely to do the deed. The Wolverines finished 22 strokes behind University at the Southern Section team finals and 18 behind the Trojans at the Southern Divisional. Still, they never felt University was out of reach.

“When I got here I heard about University and Villa Park,” Hasbrouck said. “But as the season went on, we knew they weren’t that much better than us. We just worked harder and harder and beating them means we accomplished something.”

Aliso Niguel, which finished 9-9 and last in the Sea View League last season, completed an improbable turnaround. Coach Wayne Westling credited a match-to-match improvement.

“This is so big,” Westling said. “At the beginning of the season we were not even in the ballpark, but as we attained each goal, we’d set new ones.”

Hasbrouck led the Wolverines with a 78. Charmaine Erasmus shot 83 and Candy Lin shot 84.

Torrey Pines, which got 74s from Hannah Jun and Avery Kiser, was making its debut in the CIF-WSCGA tournament.

Ina Kim of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake shot one-under-par 71 and won the individual title.