Women's golf coach Kim Evans is enthusiastic going into her 18th season at Auburn. When asked about what was expected out of the team this year, she said expectations are high.
"The way I call it, I'm ready to step through the fire," Evans said. "You know, all of them, all of them are very capable of having low numbers, of achieving the goals that they've set for themselves individually and as a team. I think I'm looking for them, individually, one-by-one to start achieving what they've set out to do here at Auburn, and that's to be in contention to win and to bring home honors and bring home trophies."
The Lady Tigers will be competing as the defending Southeastern Conference champions. However, they fell short of making it to nationals last year.
Haley Wilson, senior in communication, hasn't let that hold her back.
"It was kind of hard," Wilson said. "We didn't make it to nationals and so I just kind of let that drive me to just work as hard as I can and do the best that I can to make sure we make it to nationals in the spring this year."
Patricia Sanz, senior in biomedical sciences, said she has learned a lot from the championships she's been a part of at Auburn.
"You learn that every team is beatable, because Alabama was killing us last year every tournament and then we came back in SECs and we won," Sanz said. "Also, last year at the end of the season we realized our attitude wasn't being the greatest and we made a change, and that change changed everything. We went from about finishing 11th in Georgia to almost finishing second, and then we won SECs just by having a good attitude and just committing to each other and being positive. That made a difference."
It's clear the women this year are driven and ready to get on the course and put their skills to the test against new opponents.
As they've been preparing this summer, Evans has been able to use 'play days' to bring out their competitive side.
"Practice has been pretty good, you know, we're going to get a couple of really good days (before this weekend), but with such a competitive team and depth we've had a lot of play days because we got to play it out and see who can go to the first event," Evans said. "We've been grabbing practice here and there, but they've mainly been preparing and learning and qualifying against themselves, so I look for the meat of our practice to be two days this week, and then when we get back we have a couple of weeks before we leave again, so we'll pick up a good practice routine."
A young team combined with the loss of Cydney Clanton, a senior on last year's SEC Championship team turned professional golfer, can make a coach nervous about a tough schedule.
Evans said she is confident in her girls and is optimistic about this year's schedule.
"Last year we had the No. 1-ranked schedule in the country," Evans said. "This year it won't be. It'll be back and that's good. Even though we have two seniors that are obviously going to this event, we're still kind of a young team. We got two freshmen that are showing that they're going to be playing and a couple of sophomores that are probably going to see it, and with Marta (Sanz) in the lineup this week and then Carlie (Yadloczky) is just a junior, so even though we're veteran, we're young. So, I like our schedule, it lines us up with a couple of tournaments not quite as competitive, but still very good events.
"Then, of course, the Pac 12-SEC Challenge and the UNC Tournament are, you know, top tournament, so we'll see what we're up against this fall. The spring folds out a very tough schedule. We're looking forward to it. The kids seem energized and enthusiastic and they're very competitive with each other, but they want this team to be good."
The women's golf team kicks off its schedule this weekend in Bryan, Texas, for the "Mo"Morial invitational hosted by Texas A&M University. The first round will be held Sept. 11, and the invitational will conclude Sept. 13.
The lineup for the tournament is as follows: Haley Wilson, Marta Sanz, Patricia Sanz, Carlie Yadloczky and Victoria Trapani. Nicole Quinn will also compete individually at the tournament.
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