Evan Kornacki, LSSULakers.com
SAULT STE MARIE, Mich. – The Lake Superior State men's and women's golf teams are ready to tee off the 2018-2019 season.
The men begin this weekend (Sept.8-9) as they travel to Marquette, Mich., competing in a match play tournament hosted by Northern Michigan University. The women kick off their season next weekend (Sept.15-16) at the Saginaw Valley Invitational.
After wrapping up training camp this week, senior captain Gavin MacIver is ready to start the season off on the right foot.
"I'm really excited to get back into competition," he said. "I'm extremely excited for our freshman to get their first look at how we do stuff on the road and how good the competition is in this conference."
The Lakers will look for continuous improvement and consistency under head coach, Andrew McKenney, who enters his second full year at the helm of both the men's and women's program.
"Assistant Tony Crisp and I are very excited to get the 2018-19 season started with both men's and women's golf teams," he said. "On the men's side, we have a well-rounded team led by senior and captain Gavin MacIver, sophomores Nick Oosterhof and Ryan Page. I have high hopes for a very competitive squad this season with some added depth with our freshman.
"On the women's side led by Captain Taylor Simoneau, we bring what should be the strongest squad LSSU Women's Golf has ever had. We are hoping to build off of last year's successes, with returning sophomore Naomi Keyte (who won her first event in LSSU history as an individual last year) and senior Tatiana Hulan."
After an impressive freshman campaign and display of leadership qualities, McKenny named Simoneau this year's captain of the women's squad.
"I'm really excited for this season, our team is looking really good and I believe that we'll do really well, personally I want to just play more consistent golf and improve from my season last year," said Simoneau.
The men's and women's team welcome two freshmen on each team. Sam Hamelin from Stettler, Alberta and Zander Park from Calgary, Alberta join the roster for men. For the women, Traverse City, Mich., native, Maddy McCall and Edmonton, Alberta native, Alyshia Suleman join the young and talented lineup.
The men's team welcomes back six returners, MacIver, Oosterhof, Page, Connor Kintz, Issac Lennox, and Carter Tallaire are all ready to get back into the swing of things. While the women's team welcomes back eight returners, Simoneau, Keyte, Hulan, Hailey Watkins, Madison Whittet, Madison Wilkie, Reanna Barth, and Alexis Dawkins.
After a great freshman year, Sophomore Oosterhof is looking to have an even better year on the links,
"Coming off of a decent year, and I'm looking to improve on the season," said Oosterhof. "We lost a couple key assets, but with Zander and Sam coming in, I am confident they will fill their role to expectations."
Both the men's and women's teams will compete in five tournaments this fall.