By Nick Konotopskyj
Sports Assignment Editor
The members of the 2015-16 men’s golf team have high expectations for themselves coming into this season. Much of that is due to their upperclassmen.
While only losing one senior from last year’s team, the Bonnies have three returning seniors who all made significant contributions last season.
“I’m excited because we only lost one senior, and we have a lot of potential with three seniors leading the squad,” junior Evan Sommer said. “Other teams might have lost some seniors this year, so we don’t know what their rosters look like, but with our experience, I think we should have the upper hand against some other teams.”
The Bonnies finished in eighth place out of 11 in the conference tournament but found themselves in the top five for most of the three days.
“After last year, we were in the hunt, but the last day really hurt our chances,” senior Patrick Milkovich said. “We are definitely able, with our team right now, to have a strong chance at winning.”
The team understands the importance of getting off to a strong start and building momentum as the season progresses, according to Milkovich.
“We want to win a couple of tournaments,” Milkovich said. “As a team, we believe that if we win some tournaments starting out, then we will gain some momentum and give us progression towards A-10’s. A couple of wins would definitely give our team a huge boost.”
With this being Milkovich’s senior season, he summarized what he envisions out of this year in terms of his personal goals and things he wants to change from his previous seasons with the brown and white.
“I’m definitely trying to have the most fun I can.” Milkovich said. “Through freshman and sophomore years, I think I put a little too much pressure on myself to succeed early on. So for this year, I want to enjoy it as much as possible and make sure I don’t leave anything on the table and end on a good note.”
The Bonnies open their season tomorrow at the Colgate Invitational at Seven Oaks Golf Club. It is a three-round tournament over a two-day stretch, and this team has nothing but low scores on its mind.
“We just have to go in there and play our game,” Sommer said. “We’ve all been playing all summer, so there can’t be a different mentality. We just need to focus on playing golf and shoot some low scores out there.”
Last year, St. Bonaventure finished in third place in this invitational out of 14 schools, losing to Army and Colgate. The Bonnies were led by Joshua Stauffer with a three-round total of 225 strokes, followed by Darren Simons, Corey Long, Milkovich and Patrick Sheerer rounding out the top five.
With the season rapidly approaching, the Bonnies remain optimistic about the tournaments ahead. Whether that translates to victories remains to be seen.
