In what has become a sort of regular ritual, the AU Men's Golf team traveled to North Carolina with high hopes and came back with disappointment.
Playing without senior and emotional leader Phil Kief, the Eagles stumbled and slipped their way to an 11th-place finish at the Old Dominion University/Seascape Collegiate Invitational in Kitty Hawk, N.C.
The finish marks the end of a fall season that saw the men finish no higher than eighth at tournaments in which the team's best competed. In this weekend's particular debacle, the team finished with a combined score of 625 over two rounds, an astounding 49 shots over par and 36 shots off the lead.
Senior Chris Schieffer led the way for the Eagles, carding a +11 155 (78-77) en route to a 32nd-place finish. Sophomore Todd Shagin and freshman Howard Smith both carded two-day totals of 156 to finish in a tie for 37th.
Rounding out the scoring for the Eagles were freshmen Billy Lacey and Kevin Horan, who finished in 48th and 63rd place, respectively. Horan finished one stroke from the bottom of the leader board, managing only to defeat five George Mason University golfers who did not finish.
After the tournament, Shagin discussed what went wrong for the team.
"Our freshmen aren't performing, and me and Chris [Schieffer] can't do everything," Shagin said. "There are five people on the team, not two, and when the two play poorly as well there's no one there to cover for us and we stink."
In their three tournaments this fall, no Eagle has placed above 12th overall. In addition, Shagin has been the Eagles' top finisher in two out of the three tournaments and was one stroke from being the Eagles' No. 1 this weekend.
Even more telling is the performance of AU's freshmen.On a team that features five freshmen out of just 10 total golfers, no individual freshman has placed higher than 23rd in any of the tournaments this fall. This weekend saw a new low for freshmen, with two out of the three competing shooting rounds above 85. Horan's first-round 90 marked the first time an AU golfer had shot 90 or above in a tournament since 2002.
Coming into the season, the team had high hopes that this was the year it would win the Patriot League championship. Despite the loss of outgoing senior Seth Kaplan, the team welcomed five freshmen who had outstanding high school careers. Freshman Alex Wenzel won the Toledo Amateur Tournament, beating the field by six strokes, including rounds of 66 and 67. However since arriving at AU, Wenzel has competed in just one tournament, the Pirate Fall Intercollegiate, finishing in 82nd place.
With the team play poorly all around, Shagin commented on what went wrong, personally, in the weekend's tournament.
"I personally didn't have my best," Shagin said. "And being a huge part of our recipe for success, it didn't go too well."
The tournament was won by Virginia Commonwealth University, which carded rounds of 303 and 286 en route to a team total of 589, 13 shots above par. Drexel University's Patrick Hardin took home individual honors, carding a 2 under 142 (72-70).
The Eagles now have the winter off to regroup and fix their mistakes. The spring season gets under way March 5-6 at the University of West Florida Emerald Coast Collegiate Tournament at the Tiger Point Golf Club in Gulf Breeze, Fla.
