SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — On a day when history was made in girls golf in the area, it was entirely fitting that the first-year coach of one of its most established programs and the team playing its first official event for one of its two new programs walked off with the top honors.

On Monday, when girls from the area played in the Star Beacon Invitational for the first time, the golfers of new coach Sara Dean did her proud, recording a 199 for nine holes at Maple Ridge Golf Course, an impressive score for any time of the season, much less the first day. Paced by individual match medalist Shelly Ford’s 2-over par 37, that gave the Falcons the distinction of being the first team champion of the girls event.

The maiden voyage of the Geneva girls golf ship was a smooth one. On a team featuring three freshmen and a sophomore in its starting lineup, all of whom counted in the Eagles’ total, their 214 was at least in shouting distance of the more experienced Jefferson squad.

Third place went to Edgewood at 224. Following the Warriors were Pymatuning Valley at 257, SS. John and Paul at 292 and Conneaut at 299.

Dean was definitely proud of her girls’ performance in her first match as Jefferson’s head coach as she succeeded five-time Northeastern Conference championship coach Scott Treen. Backing up Ford’s round were 54s from seniors JoAnne Beckwith and Christen Lucas and junior Brianne Bodisch.

“Yes, I was very pleased with the girls, especially since we have an inexperienced team,” she said. “(Ford) certainly set the table for us, but we got some really consistent performances from the other three girls. I was especially excited about Brianne’s round, especially because she was our sixth golfer. The other two girls weren’t bad, either.”

Ford, just a junior herself, was pleased, too.

“It felt good,” she said. “I’ve been looking forward to this a lot. I’ve been pointing to this all season.”

Her senior teammates shared in the joy.

“We’re real excited about this,” Beckwith said. “Breaking 200 in our first match is great. We got a chance to find out about our capabilities.”

“It was nice to win the first tournament,” Lucas said. “I feel really good about our team after today. I just hope we can keep getting better from here. It was a real good way to start.”

Geneva freshman Nicole Lara tied with Edgewood sophomore Yeram Kang for the second-best round to Ford with a 46. That led Geneva to the runner-up spot. She was supported by a 51 from fellow freshman Lindsey Adams, a 52 from Carlin Kern, yet another freshman, and a 65 from sophomore Alissa Wortman.

Geneva coach Rob DiPofi expressed pride in his girls in their first official effort.

“I thought it was very successful, far more successful than I would have expected,” he said. “I’m very proud of the girls.

“The thing is, we had a very good time, too. We want to thank the Jyurovat family (owners of Maple Ridge) for turning the course over to all of us and to the Star Beacon for putting this all together.”