After a difficult fall season wrought with disappointing finishes, the AU Men's Golf team is looking to rebound with a trip to California and a promising spring season.
The Eagles, who placed eighth or lower in three out of four events this fall, have a seven-tournament spring schedule that includes the three-day Intercollegiate at Diablo Grande, a tournament in Patterson, Calif. The team rounds out the season at the Patriot League championship, where it will be eligible to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
The men will be looking to avenge 2004's PL championship, where they finished in fifth place, 22 strokes off the pace.
AU will be without the services of two golfers who competed in the fall, senior Chris Schieffer and freshman Kevin Horan. Schieffer decided to leave the team to pursue other interests in his final semester at AU while Horan was declared academically ineligible.
AU also faces the possibility of losing senior Phil Kief to a nagging injury and sophomore Todd Shagin to legal problems.
The loss of players means that the team will compete with a roster that contains five freshman, including newcomer Kyle Butts, who was installed to replace Horan.
Despite the adversity, some freshmen said that this will be a great spring season.
"I think we'll do pretty well this spring because we still have a lot of good players like Todd, Phil and [sophomore] Adam [Kolloff]", said freshman Billy Lacey. "Adam didn't play in the fall so he should be a good replacement for Kevin."
Lacey shot a 75 (38-37) at the Bridgewater Collegiate Invitational in September, which helped AU to a second-place finish.
Kolloff, who sat out the fall season after transferring to AU from the University of Connecticut, should boost AU's prospects. Kolloff helped the Huskies to top-20 finishes in two events, including St. John's University's McLaughlin Tournament. Kolloff fired a 154 (76-78, +14) in that tournament, placing third among UConn's golfers.
While contributions from the freshmen could prove vital, the true measure of the team's success will be the play of Shagin, provided he remains eligible. Shagin carded a +2, 218 (76-71-71), the best finish of any AU golfer this fall, in the fall's Pirate Fall Intercollegiate en route to a 12th-place individual finish.
Despite the pressure riding on his shoulders, Shagin said he will be able to come through and help the team win.
"I'll be out there every day giving it 100 percent," Shagin said. "But we need the younger guys to step it up, although there's really no pressure after you've had a fall season like we did."
The Eagles open their season on March 7 at the Emerald Coast Collegiate in Pensacola, Fla. From there, they play two tournaments in North Carolina before heading out to California March 27-29.
"Playing there should be awesome," Shagin said. "The weather should be great, and I hear it's a great course."
The team will be on the road for tournaments every weekend in March and April, save for one respite on April 1-2. With such a taxing schedule, players said it is important to maintain their focus.
"If we do well we will be able to carry the momentum from week to week," Lacey said. "It may seem grueling, but getting used to playing tournaments week after week should be a good thing."
The season wraps up with the Patriot League championship April 23-24 at the Bucknell University golf course in Lewisburg, Pa.
With the off-season roller-coaster ride finally behind them, the golfers say that if they focus strictly on making good shots, this could be a season to remember.
"We need to set our expectations a little higher," Shagin said. "We need to continue to work hard on the physical aspects of the game and we should improve"
