The women’s golf team will start to tweak its game and prep for the spring season now that the fall portion of its schedule is over.

The Huskies, who ended their fall season on Oct. 8, have seen a steady improvement over the fall, but weren’t able to put in a full team performance.

“Overall we are doing well. We are moving in the right direction,” said head coach Kim Kester. “We ended the year on a good note, finishing eighth out of 16 at the preview. It has been all positive this year.”

The Huskies had two tournaments this season where they had to participate in 36-hole days, traveling to ISU for the Red Bird Invitational and to Kansas City, Mo., for the Kangaroo Classic.

Kester feels having those experiences already under NIU’s belt will help out the Huskies when the spring season comes around.

“The team handled the 36-hole day extremely well this year,” Kester said. “We have a couple more of those in the spring. They are getting used to it, which is good. We will start to see a few more of those each year.”

Sydney Brickey, Casey LaBarbera, Jenny Niemiec and Taylor Ellett all carded a round of 74 during the fall, tying for the lowest round of the season thus far.

Kester hopes history repeats itself when it comes to the team’s spring season.

“Our spring last year was a lot lower than our fall last year,” Kester said. “So if it is anything like we performed last year we know that our spring is our more dominant season, and that gives you an added boost any time you shoot in the 70’s. It’s going to give you a boost to go low later in the spring.”

The highest finish for an individual Huskie came when sophomore Sam Coyne took eighth place at the Cougar Classic on Sept. 16 and 17. Coyne ended the tournament with a 75 during the first round and a 78 after the second, totaling 153.

NIU took fourth place out of nine in the UMKC Kangaroo Classic on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for its lone top-five finish on the season.

The Huskies did not have a constant No. 1 finisher after each tournament, but instead had different faces stand in and take the lead from one tournament to the next.

“Everybody across the board can step up at any given time,” Kester said. “That’s what you like to see, that everyone is pulling their weight, and hopefully we get everybody clicking on the same page, on the same day, at the same tournament. When you have that happen it is going to be scary good.”

Sophomores Peyton Gunnison and Natalya Schleebs are the only players who did not make the fall travel squad.

“We look to see them to hopefully improve and step up on in there,” Kester said

Kester looks forward to getting to work in the offseason and getting out when the spring season starts in February.

“We are playing some tougher tournaments, tougher courses [in the fall],” Kester said. “So it is going to set us up for our spring season, which is our main season. It is setting us up well and we look to move up in the MAC this year.”