COON RAPIDS, Minn. – Having four rookies and a sophomore in the five-player starting lineup was no issue for the No. 19-ranked Carleton College women's golf team as the Knights finished off a wire-to-wire team victory at the 2022 MIAC Championships.
 
With a 302 on Saturday, Carleton held a two-stroke advantage after the opening round. Another 302 on Sunday helped the Knights extend their lead to 10 strokes heading into the final round. The Knights collaborated on a score of 308 (+16) on Monday to post a combined team score of 912 (+36). That is the third-lowest 54-hole team total in MIAC Championships history behind only a 904 posted by Carleton at the 2014 conference tournament and a 909 by St. Catherine at the 2020-21 championship.
 
The Knights held off No. 18 St. Catherine University (918, +42) by six shots and No. 20 Bethel University (943, +67) by 31 strokes. This is the fourth time that Carleton captured the conference tournament title (2014, 2017, 2018, and 2022), and with it, the Knights claims the MIAC's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships.
 
"I can't take much credit, if any," said assistant coach Alexis Chan, who helped the Knights win the conference crown in 2018. "The women played to their strengths under pressure and took it one shot at a time. All I can say is that it was great win as a player, and it feels even better as a coach."
 
Leading the Knights at this year's championship was first-year Carter Sichol (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier). Sichol finished the tournament in second place at 5-over par (74-75-75=224) and only two strokes behind medalist Kyra Venne of St. Catherine. Sichol collected four of Carleton's nine birdies during the final round.
 
Cynthia Lu (Fy./Redmond, Wash./Redmond) finished tied for fifth with a score of +9 (75-78-75=228). Her team-best nine birdies were second only to Venne among the 49-player field.
 
Close behind, Natalie Tatar (Fy./Denver, Colo./St. Mary's Academy) carded a 229 (75-74-80, +10), only two strokes ahead of Sarah Zheng (Fy./Bolingbrook, Ill./Neuqua Valley) whose score of 231 (78-75-78, +12) resulted in eighth place.
 
Olivia Siebert (So./Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) held down the fifth spot on the Knights and finished with a total score of 251 (83-81-87, +32). Siebert tied for 28^th place.
 
Because Sichol, Lu, Tatar, and Zheng all placed within the top 10, they were named to the All-Championships Team and automatically qualify for the All-MIAC Team to be announced in the spring. This will be the seventh time in the last 10 years that Carleton has at least four all-conference performers.
 
Despite not playing at the MIAC Championships, co-captains Alyssa Soma (Jr./Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) and Taylor Kang (Jr./Pleasanton, Calif./The King's Academy PSP) acknowledged the team's success.
 
"This weekend was a big weekend for the team," said Kang. "After working hard all season, the team played their hearts out this weekend to bring home the win. As captains, we couldn't be more proud of our girls."