Many of us learned at a young age that it takes time for good things to develop and that when starting something new, we’re bound to meet some failures at first.

It would appear that no one told this to the Washington University women’s golf team.

Coming off an extremely successful first season as a varsity-level team here at Wash. U., the squad foresees a successful 2009-2010 season and even a possible NCAA tournament berth in the near future.

“I was thrilled with how last season went,” head coach Sean Curtis said. “For us to finish our first season ranked 38th, I was just thrilled.”

That No. 38 ranking, obtained from golfstat.com (the official statistics supplier of the NCAA), was out of 155 Division III women’s golf programs—an outstanding figure, considering that the team’s placement puts its in the top 25 percent of teams in the country after only its first year.

“We definitely exceeded our expectations,” senior captain Kris Zeschin said. “We expected it to be much more difficult for us to break in and make a name for ourselves, but we did a great job holding our own against some highly ranked teams in our region.”

The success of last season has created an incredibly large amount of optimism for the upcoming season—especially given the fact that all nine golfers from last year’s team are coming back this year.

Leading the charge among those nine returnees and three freshmen are five seniors—Zeschin, Beth Pfohl, Claire Glasspiegel, Margaret Manning and Danielle Prague. Curtis called them “pioneers” of the team, adding that almost all of them were at the original meeting that started the team’s run at the varsity level.

“They started this program, and they stuck with it,” Curtis said. “They saw their opportunity to leave their mark on a program that was just beginning.”

“Having been here from the beginning, it’s been a lot of work, but a lot of fun,” Pfohl said. “We’ve gotten to know each other really well.”

Zeschin and junior Kathleen Pettinato, as the team’s captains, strive to set examples for the freshmen and other returning golfers.

“It’s great having them back and having them be the leaders,” Curtis said. “They set the tone. When people see them going out there and doing what they’re supposed to be doing, they follow their lead.”

“There’s definitely some pressure to try and be a steady marker for the team,” Zeschin said. “So I try to be consistent so everyone can play their best round.”

The returning veterans aren’t the only ones who can play, though: The coaches and captains alike are excited about what the incoming freshmen can do.

“They’ll add some new energy and new competitiveness,” Zeschin said.

“I knew they were good coming in,” Curtis said. “I’m trying to assimilate them and get them in, and the other players are doing their best to make them comfortable.”

With a mix of new and seasoned talent in place, the team has all of the pieces in place to make a run at some of the best teams around. The Illinois Wesleyan tournament on Sept. 19-20 gives the team a good shot at proving itself against one of the best teams in the division.

The ultimate goal, however, is simple: Make the NCAA tournament.

“I really want to see our team do well and make a national qualifier,” Zeschin said. “That’s our goal, really.”

One thing is for sure, though: They haven’t had to wait long to achieve success, and they look like they’ll have that success for a long time. The Bears tee off at the Maryville Fall Warm-up Classic on Thursday and compete at the Illinois College Lady Blues Invite this weekend.

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Tags: bears, Women's Golf

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Sports, Women's Golf. You can follow any responses to this entry through this feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.