Birdies Finish an Undefeated Regular Season

The Birdies, Stuyvesant’s girls’ varsity golf team, finished the regular season strong with their third win over Brooklyn Technical High School, completing a perfect 9-0 regular season record. The girls won their most recent competitive match five holes to none, which is representative of their success throughout the entire season.

Juniors Charlotte Lee and Sara Mui started off the night at Dyker Beach with two close matchups, each winning with a margin of two strokes. Freshman Djolin Sutjiawan followed up with a strong showing, taking the lead with the first two holes and keeping her advantage to win by a margin of four strokes. Junior Aeryn Lubelsky and freshman Lea Kwok continued the winning by defeating their opponents by three and four strokes (respectively) in their games of four holes each. Even after the win, the Birdies are eager to do better in the future. “Even though we managed a victory, I feel like it was not representative of our team's true potential. I hope we can bring that out at playoffs to get as far as we can,” Mu saidi.

With this win, the Birdies are once again in the playoffs, looking to capitalize on another undefeated season. Though there have been some close games, the girls have won 43 out of 45 matchups this year, putting them at the top of their division. In fact, the Birdies haven’t lost a regular season game in the last three years, going back to the 2015-2016 season, in which they finished with a record of 8-1.

It took hard work and mental toughness to get to this level of play. “We're skilled enough to beat the other teams, but some of us had trouble doing that. The biggest challenge was our mental state,” Mui said. The girls worked out issues with rust and consistency thanks to the support of coach Emilio Nieves. Multiple athletes mentioned his supportiveness and how he never put unnecessary pressure on the team.

The Birdies are hoping to avoid what happened in last year’s playoffs, which ended earlier than anticipated. The Birdies went undefeated in their division and beat Staten Island Technical High School’s team in the quarterfinals, which seemed to be a good sign for the team. However, they weren’t invincible and their season came to an end against Tottenville High School in the semifinals. Being successful in the regular season means they will play their toughest competition in the playoffs, something the Birdies are used to doing. After not being able to advance past the semifinals in the last four years, they have their biggest challenge straight ahead.

Their first playoff game is at Marine Park against Francis Lewis High School on October 30. Francis Lewis’s golf team holds a 7-2 record, and the Birdies are in for an extremely competitive matchup. “Defeating Francis Lewis [High School] will definitely require us to play at, or almost at, our very best,” Yee said. “I think the biggest thing is [that] mentally, we need to stay on our toes but at the same time, not feel too pressured. If we have the right mentality, Francis Lewis [High School] is most definitely beatable.” The athletes know the match against Francis Lewis High School will be nothing like their matches against their division.

To prepare for the looming playoffs, the athletes are focusing on consistency and being mentally prepared. “We worked hard for this season but our competition at playoffs will be better, so we need to work even harder to bring ourselves up to that level,” Mui said. Nevertheless, their spirits remain high. “We are a loose bunch that has good camaraderie; we know that we have a good team and we are ready to prove this [in the playoffs] in victory or in defeat,” Nieves said. Win or lose in the playoffs, the Birdies are proud of their dominant regular season and are excited for what’s to come.