LCA’s Abigail Fishel tees off on the front nine during Saturday’s invite at South Shore in Syracuse. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — The Concord girls golf team is demanding your attention.

The Minutemen have started the season 5-1 in dual matches and now have two invite titles under their belts. Concord shot a 376 to run away with the Wawasee Invitational title Saturday afternoon at South Shore Golf Club. Fellow Northern Lakes Conference members Northridge (197) and Wawasee (198) respectively took second and third.

“The girls are making corrections on their own out there,” said Concord head coach Tara Boessler. “They’re working hard in practice and implementing the things they learn. Playing with confidence is a big plus, too.”

Boessler’s squad placed three golfers in the invite’s top 10 scores with Erika Shirley leading the way with a 90. Elise Boessler shot a 91 while Lauren Boessler signed for a 94. Concord’s scores were rounded out by Maddy Huxford’s 101 and Camryn Cramer’s 107.

“We’re really just focused on this team,” the coach said when asked how the team can stay focused on continuing early success. “That’s all that we can control so it’s all we want to focus on. We’ll let the scores speak for themselves on any given day. The scores will be up and down all season long, we’re trying to focus on steady improvement and working hard in practice.”

The strategy has worked so far for Boessler and the Minutemen. Wawasee has seen a steady improvement in its efforts the past few rounds and was content with its finish at Saturday’s invite.

“I’m sure all of our girls are trying to figure out where we could’ve made up that one stroke,” Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone posed while looking at the final standings. Wawasee finished one stroke behind Northridge for second. “It’s tough to be that close to another team, but we’re happy with what we shot today. We broke 400, which is a plus.

“Madison Beaman shot a 41 on the front nine, that’s what we know she can do and that’s what we need her to do for us. Aubrey Schmeltz had a good round. They both probably need to shoot a little better, but it’s still early.

“I liked what I saw from our other girls. Jadison (Rostochak) improved on the back nine after a rough start. Zoe White had a 44 on the back, if she does that regularly then we will be really tough to beat. Valerie Haessig did well today considering it was her first round of 18 this year. We have things to work on but today had a lot of positives.”

Beaman led Wawasee with an 89, good enough for second overall in the field. Schmeltz signed for a 90, the field’s third-best score. White battled to earn a 98 while Rostochak (122) and Haessig (133) rounded out Wawasee’s scores.

Northridge’s second place effort was carried by invite medalist Braedyn O’Dell and her round of 83. Ashley Brewer and Cate Tompkins turned in a 98 and 99, respectively, for the Raiders. Alayna Fray (117) and Melissa Weaver (122) rounded out the top five for Ridge.

Whitko was not able to field a whole team, but that didn’t stop coach Mike Hanback from focusing on the positives from his individuals.

“Everybody played pretty well,” Hanback began. “This was our first 18-hole invitational, our girls got a little tired around 14 or 15, but I was very happy with what I saw today. We had one score just under 100, one just over 100. I’m very comfortable with that.”

Holly Hathaway led the Wildcats with a 94. Claire Reiff signed for a 111 while Bailey Wright had a 119.

Lakeland Christian’s Abigail Fishel had a 49/52 split to finish with a 101.