Hoya Staff Writer Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Despite a mid-season coaching change that left a 22-year-old in charge, the Hoya women’s squad finished the 2005-06 season second in the Big East. The Georgetown men, led by 23-year veteran Head Coach Tommy Hunter, did not fare so well in the same tournament; the Hoyas finished 11th out of the 12 teams participating. This fall the men hope to refocus and reverse their recent fortunes while the women aim to continue their recent success and at the same time adjust to new Head Coach Patty Frohna-Post, who replaces interim Head Coach Connie Isler (MSB ’05). Cognizant of last year’s shortcomings, Hunter is eager to improve. “Last year we had a mediocre year. We were very inconsistent,” he said. “We need to start out better this year. We need to understand that every tournament and every round is just as important as the one before it and the one after it.” Hunter plans to build the team around his “seasoned veterans” including senior co-captains Tim oynihan and Matt Busa. Busa was the Hoya’s best finisher at the Big East championships last April, tying for 34th place. “I expect [Moynihan and Busa] to always be in the lineup, always be the top two players,” Hunter said. “They can handle the pressure.” The team also features two sophomores, Tim Hager and Pat Sherry, and will look to three freshmen recruits: Donald Thomas, Trevor Matese and Rory Kenny. Matese, a four-time letterwinner at Georgetown Prep in Rockville, Md., won the 2006 Interstate Athletic Conference individual championship; in 2005 he garnered second place in the same event. Thomas, a four-year letterwinner at Franklin Regional High School in Murraysville, Pa., has six top-10 finishes on the American Junior Golf Association Tour, of which three were in the top five. Kenny was a three-year letterwinner at Loyola High School in Chicago. In the end, Hunter says the remedy to the team’s recent woes will be simple: “We need to make sure we’re playing good, consistent golf.” Unlike her counterpart on the men’s side, Frohna-Post inherits a team fresh off of recent success. Despite graduating two of its top players – Christy Larrimore (MSB ’06) and Nicole Hayashi (MSB ’06) – the team remains heavily experienced. Five players on the seven-member squad are upperclassmen. Junior captain Jenna Winokur, who placed seventh at last April’s Big East championships, will anchor the team, but Frohna-Post also expects strong finishes from sophomore Chelsea Curtis. Freshman recruit Heidi Kim could also prove to be an important asset to the team. After just two weeks of practice, Frohna-Post is already impressed. “There is a huge amount of potential on the team,” she said. “Their skill sets are much larger than when I got to college.” Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1999, Frohna-Post has balanced a career as a professional player and private coach. This is her first appointment as head coach of a collegiate team. Nevertheless, she is not worried about her relative inexperience as a head coach. “The great thing about golf is that you can rely on a lot of personal experiences,” she said. She hopes her own stories and anecdotes help the team just as much as any instruction she can provide. The men open their season at the UNC-Greensboro Invitational at Pinehurst, N.C., which started yesterday and continues through today. They next head to Newport, R.I., for the Adams Cup on Sept. 26-27. The women opened their season yesterday at the Lady Badger Invitational in Madison, Wis. They next play on Sept. 23-24 at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind.