Williamstown, MA - The Williams men’s golf team will embark on a two-week trip during spring break in hopes to find their stride on the golf course and continue their momentum from the fall portion of the season. Consistency will be the most important asset that the players must achieve if they are to receive the automatic NESCAC bid and find themselves teeing it up in Hershey, PA on May 11 for the NCAA Championship.
This past fall, the Ephs came out on top in two tournaments, capturing the Williams Invitational for the first time since 2001 and winning the important NESCAC Qualifier, which gives the winning team the right to host the NESCAC Championship in the spring. Williams will be hosting Trinity, Hamilton, and Middlebury at Taconic Golf Club from April 24-25 to determine the NESCAC Champion and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Even with the success the Ephs found this past fall, Coach Rick Pohle intends to keep the team in perspective and focused on what lies ahead. He spoke about how imperative this upcoming spring season would be for the future of the program and how he hoped to establish the Ephs as the prominent force in the NESCAC and in Division III college golf. “I think a number of our players have re-dedicated themselves. Spring break will be exciting because of what lies ahead of us on the schedule,” said Coach Pohle, “We have the opportunity to makeup for some of the complacency that has beset a number of us. I do not think we have failed in our approach; it is just that a number of our competitors have improved greatly and we have not responded or stepped it up a bit.”
Head coach Rick Pohle, now in his 27th season at the helm of the Williams golf program, has led the team to 10 NESCAC titles and 10 NCAA appearances and he hopes to lead the Ephs to their second appearance at the NCAA’s in the past three years. In addition, the Ephs seek their 13th straight Little Three title, which will be held at Amherst on April 28th. “Having won the last 12 titles in a row, I am most concerned with the complacency level of our players for this event,” said Coach Pohle, “I know this streak will end some day and I can accept that, but I want it to happen because we forced someone to play much better than we did that day.”|
Having seven seniors graduate in the class of 2009 and with no seniors on the team this year, the Eph golfers will look to the junior class of 2011 for strong leadership and support. Jack Killea, Bob Camp, Drew Murray, and Jake Wagner have had a great deal of college golf experience and have made great contributions to the program over the past three years, something they will need to continue to do when leading this young team this spring. They are expected to anchor the lineup and set an example for consistent play throughout the spring.
The team is also filled with a talented group of underclassmen vying for spots to fill out the starting lineup. Chris Valle ’12, Siwol Chang ’12, Jack Ervasti ’13, Wyatt Sparks ’13, and Ryan Brand ’13 all showed that they are capable of good golf this past fall, and continued strong and consistent play from them will only solidify the Ephs as the deepest team in the NESCAC.
For teams with split schedules like golf, the second spring portion of the season really tests the players. Players who played well during the fall hope to continue their play after a 5-month hiatus, while others try to revamp their games and hope to come out of the gates strong for the intense spring season. The biggest challenge the players will face will be trying to get their games in competitive form as soon as possible. “The one good thing about golf is that it is a bit easier to identify the "hot" players because of their scores,” explained Coach Pohle, “but, I still want intelligent players out on the course who play under control, work hard to minimize their mistakes and place a higher value on consistency with their scoring.”
“We have the tools to go a long way this spring and to set the tone for next season, since we do not graduate any players from the current roster,” noted Coach Pohle, “we are looking at a very solid recruiting class in preparation for life after the Class of 2011 graduates. I want these "new " players to experience the commitment and be ready to continue the traditions all the players before them worked so hard to create.”
For the first time in two years the Ephs will finally have a complete Taconic Golf Club to compete on. After the renovations were completed last year, the course ran into some problems with the greens this past fall and the course was played with temporary greens. Now that the course is expected to be back in good shape, the treacherous greens and new layout will surely pose a great challenge for all players and provide an exciting atmosphere.
The Ephs are scheduled to compete in their first tournament over spring break at the Sunshine Invitational against NESCAC rivals Trinity and Hamilton in Port St. Lucie, FL on March 25th. Soon after returning to Williamstown from break, the team will head to the eastern part of Massachusetts to play in the Lou Flummere Invitational at Stow Acres on April 7th. “We used to play in the event years ago and I am placing it back on the schedule to get another event under our belts in the northern climate,” said Coach Pohle.
The team will then travel to Skidmore College for the Palamountain Invitational, which traditionally brings together a very strong field. The following two weeks will feature tournaments hosted at Taconic Golf Club, as the Williams Spring Invitational will host the six NESCAC schools that compete with a spring schedule, who are Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Trinity, and Middlebury. “This event will be two-fold because it allows us to stay in touch with the other NESCAC programs and it will be a preview of the 4 teams that will be returning to Williamstown one week later to compete for the NESCAC Championship and the NCAA Automatic Qualifier,” noted Coach Pohle, “This is just another step in the process to familiarize our players with the competitive nature of the game and the teams that we are involved with.”
