Sept. 30, 2005

The Sacred Heart men's golf team are two tournaments into the 2005 fall season and have shown early on they will be a force in the Northeast Conference this year. Head Coach Michael Giaquinto has assembled a young, energetic and talented team as the Pioneers set their sights toward Walt Disney World and the NEC Championship in May.

"To say that we are very excited about our team this season would be an understatement," stated Giaquinto. "We have a solid core of returning athletes, sophomore Tom Campbell (Wall, NJ), sophomore Patrick Fillian (Tinton Falls, NJ), and junior Rob Thurston (Newton, MA) that are maturing nicely. Additionally we have added two freshmen who have already mad an impact on our team performance, Matt Belizze (North Salem, NY) and Kevin Lauretti (Newington, CT). Sophomore Dave Polchinski (Staten Island, NY) transferred to us this year from Stetson University (Fl) that fills out our competition squad nicely."

The Pioneers are headed to Quinnipiac and the ECAC Championship this weekend and look to carry over the momentum from last weekend's appearance at the Central Connecticut Invitational. SHU finished 6th out of 12 teams and only 14 strokes out of first place. Leading the team was Campbell who played the 36 hole tournament with a score of 142 (2 under par) and tied for low medalist.

"All of our athletes are established individual amateur players. The events that our players grew up competing in are individual events. Competing in Division I colligate golf tournaments we field 5 players and score a team the aggregate of the low 4 scores."

"Making the transition from individual play to team play can take some adjustment," stated the head coach. "The players must take a conservative approach to play; high scores by one or two individuals can make the difference in four or five places. Each player must place the team's goals first and in doing so their individual success will naturally be elevated."

One of the biggest reasons the Pioneers are looking towards May with confidence is finding a new course to call home. The Great River Golf Club in Milford, Connecticut.

"The major change this season is our ability to practice at one of the top rated courses in Connecticut," commented Giaquinto. "Until this season we didn't have a home. Great River management and their Head Pro, Tom Rosati have been great to us. Tom devotes a great deal of his time during the off season working with our team to improve their mechanics. This off-season work keeps the team in form making ready for the spring."

"Our program is growing, last year we made a big step forward bringing in Campbell and Fillian and this year Belizze and Lauretti."

A solid start combined with a first-class facility and a group of talented, young golfers has the Pioneers primed for success in 2005. "Winning breads winning and I believe our program is the one to watch in the NEC conference. I believe that we have an excellent chance at winning our conference championship."