Last season’s women’s golf did not end the way that the squad intended. Entering the Ivy League Championship meet on April 26, the Bulldogs were one of the — if not the only — favorites to take home the crown.

Championships, however, did not go the Elis’ way. Yale finished in third place, two spots behind archrival Harvard. Behind an experienced field of players that includes three returning all-Ivy performers, the Bulldogs will look to rebound in a major way this season. Their fall campaign gets underway this weekend at the Hanover Country Club for the Dartmouth Invitational.

“Dartmouth is a fun event and a great warm-up to our home invite next week,” head coach Chawwadee Rompothong ’00 said. “The Hanover CC reminds me of a miniature Yale and I am hoping to defend both the team title and the individual title.”

Last April, the team headed into Ivy League Championships with high expectations. The Elis had won the Brown Invitational the preceding week, and buoyed by the success of the hockey team in winning the national championship, the Bulldogs went to Ivies looking to do some damage.

But the competition did not go as planned. The squad finished in fifth place on the event’s first day before climbing into second after the second round. The Elis went no higher than that, however, finishing the event in third.

“I was obviously disappointed by how we placed in the Ivy League Championship. We came off a great win at Brown the week before, and I truly believe we had the talent and drive to win,” Rompothong said. “I know the team is working harder this year and we would like to bring the trophy back to Yale.”

When the Bulldogs step out on the course this weekend, it will mark the first event since they fell at the Ivy League tournament in April. Not only has the team been working hard this year, but they also are returning much of the talent that they brought to Ivies last year. Last season, three Yale competitors — Marika Liu ’15, Seo Hee Moon ’14 and Shreya Ghei ’15 — received all-Ivy honors by finishing in third, fifth and ninth place, respectively. Liu and Moon made the All-Ivy first team, while Ghei qualified for the second team.

Sun Gyoung Park ’14 was voted captain by her teammates last spring and expressed optimism for the upcoming season.

“My responsibility as captain this year is to be a leader who can be an example of good character, morale and excellence,” she said. “I am very optimistic about this season because we have great talent on the team.”

The squad is entering the Dartmouth Invitational with confidence — they won the meet last year by a whopping 15 strokes over second-place Boston University.

For the team, fall competition will conclude Oct. 18 at the Lehigh Invitational, while the spring season gets underway on March 16 at the William & Mary Invitational.

The end to last season still has not dampened the team’s hopes for this year.

“The goals this season is to break records and worker harder than we ever have,” Rompothong said. “We are focusing on what we can control and hopefully, that will lead to great results.”

The Dartmouth Invitational will take place on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend in Hanover, N.H.