FREEPORT — Audrey Clawson wasn’t sure she wanted to play on a boys golf team.

As a junior at Freeport, Clawson now is unsure of how she would do on a girls team.

“At first, I was like I don’t want to be on a guys’ team,” Clawson said. “The more I played, the more comfortable I got and the guys accepted me more.”

Finding a girls-only high school team to play on in western Pennsylvania isn’t easy.

Many schools don’t have enough interested parties to have full teams.

Five area schools — A-C Valley, Butler, Mars, Seneca Valley and Union — have teams. The Damsels only have two golfers, but have a coach for the girls.

In the WPIAL, there are 32 schools (20 in Class AAA and 12 in AA) that field girls teams.

There are 117 boys teams.

The rest, like Freeport, allow girls to try out for spots on the boys team.

The Yellowjackets have two girls that play golf, Julia Fischer is on the JV team.

Knoch also has a female golfer on its JV squad.

“We had a few other girls go out for the team and not make it,” Freeport coach Joe Sprumont said. “We had to make cuts at tryouts and boys and girls are viewed the same. We’ve never been to the point where we had enough girls come out to have a girls team.”

Moniteau has two girls — Kennedy and Kristina DeMatteis — that made the cut.

Warriors coach Sean Morrow said he has 12 spots available for his team to play at Shamrock Golf Course in Slippery Rock.

He said he’s never noticed an issue. Sometimes, Morrow said, the guys are more intimidated by the girls.

“I’ve had guys that want to impress a girl on another team and end up carding their worst score,” Morrow said.

According to the PIAA golf handbook, girls are supposed to play at 85 percent of the length of the guys’ tees.

Many times this rule goes unobserved because courses don’t have those tee boxes set up to enforce the rules.

In many dual meets, the girls end up playing from the red tees.

Girls used to have to play from the white tees until 2009.

Seneca Valley coach Lynn Wagner understands that most girls don’t have the opportunity to play on a girls team.

She can see the other side of the argument, too.

“I’m not sure that’s fair to the guys,” Wagner said. “I think for some good female golfers, it gives them a big advantage hitting from the red tees.”

Slippery Rock coach Merle Whitmer thinks playing from the white tees was a benefit for Jenna Rinker.

Rinker, who went on to play at Robert Morris University, was a strong golfer for the Rockets.

“I think it helped her, when she went to girls districts,” Whitmer said. “The courses were 600 yards shorter. She could hit the pitching wedge to everything.”

For postseason, all individuals compete with girls who play on teams to advance to states.

Clawson is unsure of how much playing against the guys helps.

She regularly competes in junior golf tournaments against girls during the summer and fall.

“I think it has (helped), but it hasn’t at the same time,” Clawson said. “It’s totally different, but at the same time it’s prepared me to play better.”

Many of the smaller schools just can’t find the numbers. It’s hard to compete against other activities.

Union coach Cassie Wensel hopes to convince at least four girls to play so they can have a team.

“We have some girls that we’ve talked to in junior high,” Wensel said. “The big drawback is we have kids in the band and volleyball. It’s difficult in a small school, you can’t afford to have kids do all three.”

Clawson has consistently been at the top for Freeport during dual meets.

It’s a long way from being nervous at tryouts during her freshman year.

“She’s really into golf and very competitive,” Sprumont said. “She’s self-motivated and has a great work ethic. ... There’s no area of her game where she’s not good at.”