May 2, 2008
Crusader golfers together at last
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St. Luke’s golf coach Mitch Murphy has been trying all season to get his top six golfers on the course at the same time.
The Crusaders’ veteran coach finally got his wish this week and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The 2008 Fairchester Athletic Association tournament took place Wednesday on the south course at Westchester Country Club and St. Luke’s was a strong contender to win its second league title in three years.
“We’ve yet to have our top six together this season for a bunch of reasons,” Murphy explained on Monday as rain fell outside. “We had a couple of kids hurt, a couple kids sick, and two or three kids who had to play junior tournaments and had to miss matches.
“But everyone will be there Wednesday and we should be really tough. We have a shot.”
Even without its full team at every match the Crusaders have been tough so far this season as they entered this week with a 6-2 record.
“Our two losses were to Rye and Brunswick (7-2) early in the season,” Murphy pointed out. “We were 0-1 and then 1-2, but since then we’ve rattled off five in a row.”
Wednesday’s FAA tournament was expected to be between those same three teams. Last year, St. Luke’s finished third, one stroke behind runner-up Brunswick and four behind league champion Rye.
“Rye and Brunswick are both very good and the other teams in the league are getting more depth every year. The FAA has become very competitive,” Murphy said. “We went in last year as the top team and we didn’t win, so you never know.”
This year, the Crusaders were going in as the No. 3 team, but they were expected to be a full strength with Cameron Wilson playing at No. 1, Billy Prince in the No. 2 position, Will Delano at No. 3, Bobby Hamill at No. 4, Mike Troy playing at five, and either Alex Lupica or Mac Pivirotto in the No. 6 spot.
Prince, Delano, Hamill, Lupica and Pivirotto are all from New Canaan.
“We still have a young team,” Murphy noted. “Of our top six players, Alex (Lupica) is the only senior. Billy (Prince) and Will (Delano) are juniors, Cam (Wilson) is a sophomore, and Bobby (Hamill), Mike (Troy) and Mac (Pivirotto) are all freshmen.”
But the Crusaders certainly do not lack experience when it comes to FAA tournaments.
“Only the freshmen didn’t play in last year’s tournament,” Murphy said. “But they got into some matches as eighth graders so obviously they got experience, and they’ve been playing all year long so they got more experience. When we were missing some golfers, we had other kids step up this season.”
Junior A.J. Hilboldt, also from New Canaan, and seniors Chris Mahoney and Chris Galluccio provided St. Luke’s with depth this season.
“We have a total of 10 on the team and they all got in matches,” Murphy said.
On Wednesday, however, the spotlight was squarely on the Crusaders’ top six players. Finally.
“We definitely need the top three to play to their potential,” Murphy said. “They’re very good golfers. They’re all junior golfers who have been on the team for three years or more. You’re still talking about one sophomore and two juniors, so we’re still a young team. But if they play up to their capabilities we got a shot.”
Regardless of what happened on Wednesday, the season was still a long way from over.
“We still have a bunch of matches left,” Murphy said. “Because the FAA tournament is at the Westchester Country Club, the date is earlier than usual this year. It’s about two weeks earlier.
“So we still have two weeks to go in the season and at least five more matches, if not more if we reschedule some earlier matches that were rained out.”
In fact, the Crusaders have rematches with Brunswick on Tuesday and Rye two days later.
“Some might find it anticlimactic to play matches after the league tournament, but we still want to play and we still want to win,” Murphy concluded. “But the big thing is the tournament. We’ll trade losses to those two teams again after the tournament in exchange for beating them on Wednesday.”
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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