BY Mike Contento
Staff Reporter
As the fall season draws to an end for Men’s and Women’s Golf, there has been much to be happy about for head coach Matthew McGreevy.
While the Men’s team will finish up the fall season in Clifton, N.J., at Montclair Country Club Oct 26-28, the women’s team hosted a home meet at Great River Golf Club in Milford, Conn., on Oct. 19-21. It is the first time during the fall season that the Women’s team will get to host a meet.
“The women are excited to host at our home course,” said McGreevy. “They will have a comfort level and we expect to have a good showing.”
Coach McGreevy also said that he has watched the Women’s team come together as a unit as the season has progressed.
Thus far, a major part of that unit has been senior Ana Contreras. In all three meets so far, Ana has finished as the top golfer for Sacred Heart. Most recently, she tied for eighth shooting a 150 (76, 74), the highest she has finished at a meet this season.
A driving force has been self-added pressure for Contreras’ great play thus far.
“As a senior, there is some added pressure to perform well,” said Contreras. “Since it is my last year of playing college golf, I want to make sure to make it the best year and to enjoy it to the fullest.”
While Contreras will lead the Pioneers into her final season this spring, she will be backed by the increasingly strong play by freshmen Kailee Welch and Chelsea Thakkar. In their most recent meet, they each finished their highest so far this season, at 20th and 23rd respectively.
“Kailee and Chelsea have come in and made an impact right away and I think we have a bright future with this solid freshman core,” said McGreevy.
Chelsea Thakkar made her way to Sacred Heart from Mumbai, India, and has had to make many adjustments not only to the school, but even to things like the climate of a new country. In addition, she had never played on a team before getting to Sacred Heart.
“It is a positive environment and we have a great course where we practice,” said Thakkar.
She also said that McGreevy has been very helpful in her adjustments on and off the golf course.
McGreevy has much to be hopeful about with the men’s team as well. Through four meets, the team has been led by some very strong play from sophomore Nathan Kim and junior Saptak Telwar, who have placed in the top 20 all but one time this season, including three top 10 finishes.
The two are looking to feed off of each other’s play all the way to a Northeast Conference (NEC) championship.
“I have been feeding off of Sap’s game. He was our best guy last year and my goal this year is to beat him in scoring average,” said Kim. “I feel if I do well, our team has a good chance in winning the conference.”
“Nathan has played some great golf and been in contention multiple times,” said Telwar.
He also noted consistency and accountability will go a long way to winning the conference in the spring.
McGreevy has also seen some steady improvement from freshman Simon Trebon. After he did not make the first travel roster, Trebon has finished in the top 50 once. He has been trying to adjust to the course difficulties and balancing time between his studies and golf.
“Since the beginning of the season, my driving ability has improved greatly. I feel that my accuracy has improved immensely,” Trebon said.
After the men’s team competes in Montclair, the teams will enter the offseason where they will work out and improve until the season begins again in March.
