In 2008, the Virginia women's golf team lost to defending national champion Duke by one stroke at the ACC Championship. Despite the loss, the team's performance in that final round helped give the Cavalier women the needed motivation to defeat other conference rivals.\n"To be ahead of Duke for the majority of the tournament and just to lose by one made us say, 'Hey, this is where our program is and where we are to be at all times,'" coach Kim Lewellen said. "It gave the girls the confidence and the goals to go out there and work hard for it, and they did and continue to do that,"\nThe team finished eighth at the 2009 NCAA tournament - the program's best NCAA Championship finish ever. In April of last season, the team placed second at the Bryant National Championship, and junior Calle Nielson's first place all-around performance at March's LSU Classic helped the team to record its lowest score in history and finish atop the leader board.\n"Calle is an outstanding ball-striker and overall has every component of the game," Lewellen said.\nThe team ranked No. 4 in the final 2008-2009 poll, and with Lewellen's determinist coaching qualities the Cavaliers do not plan to stop there.\nNielson attributes the Cavalier's impressive performances to their specified training regimens, in which each player focuses solely on her weaknesses.\n"One of [Calle's] weakest points last fall was her putting, so through the off-season we worked extremely hard on her putting, gave her some putting drills, a little bit of a different way to think through her putting," Lewellen said.\nThe results are telling: Nielson recently dropped an average of four strokes per round.\nNielson "had a stroke average of about 76 in the fall, and then in the spring it dropped significantly, which adds up to a 12-shot drop in every tournament," Lewellen said. "Twelve shots is a difference between first place and 10th place. It can be a huge factor when you drop a scoring average of that magnitude."\nSenior Whitney Neuhauser also made significant improvements from the spring of her sophomore year to the fall of her junior year, dropping her scoring average by four to five strokes.\n"Having her and Calle do that within the same year was one of the biggest contributions to improving that much in our NCAA finishes last year versus the year before," Lewellen said.\nAdditionally, the squad's scores in its inter-team qualifying rounds were some of the lowest Lewellen has ever seen in her time at Virginia.\nNielson credits the team's growth to Lewellen. The 2009 East Region Coach of the Year brings a lot of energy to practice sessions and tournaments, which helps drive the team, Nielson said.\nNielson's improved play and her No. 6 finish at the 2009 NCAA Tournament highlights Lewellen's influence on the team.\n"To have someone that's coaching you to motivate you to that extent makes a huge difference," Neilson said. Lewellen "took my game to the next level."\nAfter the departure of several seniors in the spring and the arrival of three freshmen in the fall, the 2009 Virginia squad will be put to the test this weekend at the NGCA Championship in Florida, one of only four of the team's events this semester.\n"You always miss the seniors," Lewellen said. "They set a precedent of excellence, they set a precedent of work ethic. You can definitely see that in the girls that are here and they're teaching that to the first years"
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