By Nick Konotopskyj
Sports Assignment Editor
The men’s golf team kicked off the 2015 season with a seventh- place finish in the Colgate Invitational last weekend.
Fourteen schools competed in the tournament, and oach Eric Hoops said this was a great way to start the season, especially for his freshmen and sophomores.
“It was a tough golf course with really tough conditions,” Hoops said. “[The freshmen] kept grinding and fighting and had a really good start to their college career. I was very proud with how they played this weekend.”
By “underclassmen,” Hoops referred to Matt Abendroth, Brent Morgan and Corey Long. They were the team’s top three performers over the weekend which is good, according to Hoops. But on the flip side, Hoops knows that he needs more production from his seniors.
“Getting a couple of my seniors playing a little bit better would be nice,” Hoops said. “Josh (Stauffer) didn’t get his senior year off to a good start, and he’s been our strongest player the last couple of years. I know he’s going to improve and find the right things to do to get a little bit better.”
The two seniors who played this weekend, Stauffer and Pat Milkovich, had a rough weekend on the links, according to Stauffer. They only managed to break 80 in two of their six combined rounds. However, Stauffer said he is confident about the team and improving as the season goes on.
“The underclassmen played pretty solid, which is good to see,” Stauffer said. “Pat and I didn’t play as well as we were hoping, but we know what we need to improve on, and hopefully that happens for the rest of the year.”
The Bonnies finished with a two-day score of 942 among their five players, only 31 shots behind the tournament champions, Youngstown State. Stauffer said he is highly motivated to bring at least one first place trophy back to Bonaventure this season.
“Something we kind of set as our goal for this year is to win a tournament,” Stauffer said. “Winning our home tournament would be nice, and it would be nice to get a win in our second tournament of the season.”
The home tournament, which is the next time the Bonnies will compete, takes place Sept. 20 and 21 at the Bartlett Country Club in Olean.
Last season, the Bonnies took sixth place out of 10 schools at the Leo Keenan Invitational, which took place at their home course. With just over a week until this home invitational, coach Hoops said he plans on doing what is necessary to get his team in top condition for this tournament.
“It’s going to take some hard work in these next couple of weeks, and they just need to continue to get their games ready to peak at the right moment next weekend,” Hoops said. “We are going to have some qualifying over the weekend to determine who will be in our starting lineup for the Keenan, and hopefully I get some people playing some strong golf on our home golf course where my guys play almost every single day.”
