After placing sixth in the Cougar Classic and eighth in the Lady Tar Heel Invitational, the women’s golf team failed to penetrate the top 10 in its final two tournaments during the fall season.
However, to prepare for the spring season, coach Page Marsh said she saw a different approach from her squad going into the upcoming season.
“With the mindset and the attitude that I’ve seen, I don’t think they were satisfied with what happened in the fall,” Marsh said. “They were a little disappointed. This year they have worked hard in the off season and I’ve seen people practicing more.”
While the two seasons are broken up into two time periods, the way the team finishes in every tournament, including those during the fall, affects the outcome of the season.
Stephanie Derrey, a sophomore from Paris, France, said the Pack will have to perform very well during the spring to reach their goal.
“We learned a lot during the fall,” Derrey said. “We had a few tournaments where we didn’t do as well as we would have liked. It was a good wake up call. We realize that we have to do really well in the spring to get where we want to be.”
The Wolfpack, which had their best season in program history last year, had eight top 10 finishes during the season, tied for third at the ACC Championship and finished 14th at the NCAA East Regionals during the 2004-2005 season.
N.C. State took two big hits after the graduation of Colby Cobb and Ashlee Dean, the first person in program history to earn All-ACC honors.
Molly Birmingham, one of the two seniors for the Pack this season, said she is excited about the upcoming schedule, but explained how difficult it becomes to spend so much of the semester traveling.
“It’s kind of hard because we are gone for five full days at a time,” Birmingham said. “We have to make sure that we get our work done a while ahead of time, because if we don’t, we will fall behind.”
Lauren Harling, a sophomore who had the top score for the team during the regionals last season, said she is excited about traveling with the team and getting the season started.
“I’m feeling pretty good about this season,” Harling said. “All of us get to travel together so we are really excited about getting things started. We have a chance to do well this season.”
The team is spending February 19-21 in Miami for the Papa John’s Collegiate tournament. The Pack will also travel to Baton Rouge, Blythewood, S.C. and Pinehurst during the spring season.
State has two seniors, one junior, four sophomores and one freshman. Marsh said she has seen vast improvement from the second-year golfers.
“All of the freshmen improved a great deal last year,” Marsh said. “Harling came as a walk on last year and had the best score at regionals — she’s a sophomore now. Same for Derrey, who came all the way from Paris, France. She is determined to do well.”
Even with a young group of golfers, Marsh said the team is full of athletes who are capable of playing and competing.
“I think that we have established that we have a team that is seven deep,” Marsh said. “It’s very exciting because it helps them push each other being that we have so many [who] can play.”