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The Spectator
Golf in NESCAC Championship
by Daniel Greenberg '12Sports Editor
October 30, 2009
When the NESCAC Championship is on the line, the Hamilton golf team rises to the occasion. With their performance at the NESCAC Championship Qualifier they have now earned the privilege of playing in the NESCAC Championship for the third consecutive year.
Senior captain Phil Preiss '10 shot a spectacular even-par 71 two days in a row at the NESCAC Championship Qualifier, helping the team become one of the four teams playing in the NESCAC Championship and earning him NESCAC Player of the Year honors. His clutch performance at this vital qualifier led him to become the first NESCAC player of the year for Hamilton in six years and also helped him make his first appearance on the first team all-conference.
At Waubeeka Golf Links, the 6,299-yard course in Williamstown, Massachusetts where the qualifier was held, Priess finished five shots ahead of the field to earn the tournament's individual medalist award. His 18-hole round of 71 was a season-high and his combined score of 142 crushed his previous career-high for 36 holes by an astounding 16 strokes (158).
Preiss was not the only Hamiltonian to excel in this qualifier, though. The Continentals shot 597 as a team, which was their lowest score of the fall season. They finished in second place finish to Williams, who only barely edged them out by two strokes (595).
Junior captain Brad Roche '11, who led the team with a 77.09 average, also contributed to the cause in the qualifier with his second lowest 36-hole score of the season (71-77). His consistent performance throughout the season helped him join Priess for first team all-conference, the third time he has been honored with the title. He earned an individual medalist award, the first of his career, the week after the qualifier at Hamilton's Fall Invitational with his lowest 36-hole score of the season (74-73).
At Hamilton's Fall Invitational the team fed off the momentum from the NESCAC Championship Qualifier, finishing second only to Skidmore, which went undefeated in the region this fall. With Roche and Preiss captaining, the team has a great chance of making NESCAC championships.
But helping the Continentals with individual performances are not the only thing Roche and Preiss have done to make the team better.
LJ Scurfield '12 stated, "Our captains did a great job keeping us motivated and bringing us together as a team. We started hanging out as a team more, and it created a bond, which is what playing on a team is all about."
As for the rest of the team, the young players have also performed exceptionally this fall season. Scott Blosser '12 really flourished in his second season with the team and finished with the second lowest average on the team with a 77.62.
As Scurfield put it, Blosser was "probably the most consistent on the team. He was in the 70's most of the time and didn't shoot worse than 81 at all."
Hans Schulte '13 also performed exceptionally well in his first season, playing in every tournament and never shooting over an 83. He helped the team make up for the loss of Scurfield, who missed half the season due to illness. Making the NESCAC Championships once again, the Continentals hope to continue their recent success with this core of talented young players.
The team has shown great promise all season, which is proven by Head Coach Al Highducheck, who says that "our head-to-head record versus teams in our region (northeast region consisting of New England and eastern NY) was 32-11-4. During the course of the fall we played eight of the other nine teams ranked in the top ten in the region and had at least one head-to-head win versus seven of them, including Williams, Middlebury and Trinity, the three other teams that qualified for the spring NESCAC Championship and number 2, Salem State, who went 80-4-0 in the fall."
The Continentals will use the development and experience from the fall season and hopefully repeat their performance at the NESCAC Championship Qualifier, and perhaps perform even better. They certainly have the talent to compete and if everything comes together they will have a great shot in the NESCAC Championship in April 2010.