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SYRACUSE – For those scoring at home, summer unofficially came to a close Tuesday afternoon with the ushering in of the 2013-14 athletic sports season. For those scoring at Maxwelton Golf Club, several would rather have a few more days of summer vacation.

The girls golf matchup between visiting Columbia City and Wawasee kicked off the fall sports season, and although Wawasee would take the varsity victory, 197-217, it was still much too early for Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone to feel good about anything.

“It’s only our first match and we were pretty much where I thought we would be,” Coverstone admitted. “We did OK, I would give us a C-plus, it was just OK. We just started practice Friday, so we have only had a couple days to figure it out.”

With the weekday warriors on the back nine hacking off trees, hitting onto South County Line Road, cheering any putts that would fall, the varsity groups from both schools found its games speculative at best for much of the afternoon on the front nine.

Leading the way for Wawasee was Mikala Mawhorter, shooting a medalist 43. Other than a slip up on seven – where all five Wawasee golfers shot double bogey or worse – Mawhorter was either bogey or better on every other hole.

Wawasee’s Elizabeth Jackson had her moments of despair but still managed a 46 and Kylee Rostochak was up and down to card 51. Aubrey Schmeltz posted a 57 in her first varsity appearance and Courtney McDaniel turned in a 59 despite making the shot of the day on hole eight, chipping in from about 30 feet.

Columbia City had a rough go on the rolling Maxwelton course, only recording a handful of pars and being led by the 49 of Macenzie Lane. Bethany Yoder had a 54, Cheyenne Johnson a 56, Allison Yoder a 58 and Sydney Ford a 62.

“Some of the kids that know the course, it helped nerves a little like Aubrey, Mikala and Elizabeth that play here all the time,” Coverstone said. “They know the course very well. Some of the other girls will get it figured out with some time.”

There won’t be a lot of time to worry about Tuesday night’s opening act as Wawasee will load the clubs into the mini bus and head to Huntington tomorrow for a spot in the Huntington Invitational. The 9 a.m. start, along with Thursday’s return to action in Kosciusko County for a triangular with Whitko and Concord at South Shore might be the medicine the team needs as summer fever wears off.

“I feel like the girls are making a good effort, and we played to the level I thought we would be at this early in the season,” Coverstone said. “Our chipping and putting need to improve. And we should use tomorrow as a chance to clean some things up.”