Explorer golf team making great strides

By Kevin Prendergast
Collegian Staff
November 8, 2006

After completing a record-setting fall season in October, the La Salle golf team looks with hopeful anticipation towards their spring season.

“It was the best season by a La Salle golf team in a long time,” said senior captain John Lorenzo.

This season, full of both individual and team accomplishments, started off in a great way at the Bucknell Invitational. The Explorers shot a three-day total of 899, which was highlighted by their second-round 295. The second-round score marked the first time in years that the Explorers have eclipsed the coveted 300 stroke mark.

Lorenzo led the Explorers by finishing fourth individually in the tournament with a three-day total of 213 (+3). The team then headed to Towson, hoping to build off of their promising performance.

The Towson Invitational was yet again highlighted by an outstanding second-day performance. The team shot a combined score of 296 (+8) on a very difficult course. This second-day score was good enough to top rivals St. Joe’s and Temple.

Sophomore Steve Sieracki led the Explorers with a score of 71 (-1), and he was followed by Lorenzo’s 72 (E), junior Chris Caimano’s 76 (+4) and senior Jon Cooney’s 77 (+5).

“That was our best team round of the fall,” Lorenzo said. “It boosted our confidence sky high and told us that we were good.”

Neither of the next two tournaments would be as impressive as those first two, but the Explorers continued to impress. In the George Washington Invitational, the Explorers saw one of their best individual performances on display.

Playing 36 holes in a single day, Lorenzo shot rounds of 68 and 71, for a combined 139 (-3). Not only did this garner Lorenzo the top spot at the tournament by a margin of three strokes, but his first round score of 68 is one of the best, if not the best, single round scores ever shot by a La Salle golfer. The team recorded combined scores of 300 and 306 to put them in a respectable seventh place.

The Explorers continued to prove themselves when they went north to the Army/Mulekicker Fall Classic. During this two-day tournament, the team shot combined scores of 313 and 308 to put them in eighth place. The Explorers outplayed powerful teams such as Colgate, Lafayette and Monmouth in the tournament.

Leading the way for the Explorers was Sieracki, who shot rounds of 71 and 76. His total score of 147 was good enough for fifth place in the Classic.

Overall, the season was one in which the Explorers recorded numerous accomplishments, both as a team and individually. Lorenzo credits Head Coach Sal Caimano, for much of the team’s success, due to his ability to provide the team with the best opportunities to excel on the golf course.

This season was the first time in recent memory that the team had three top five performances. Another remarkable achievement was that three Explorer players had single-round averages under 80: Lorenzo (74.8), Sieracki (77.0) and Caimano (78.9).

“Everyone worked harder than ever to put La Salle golf on the map,” Lorenzo said. “We have gotten respect among Division I coaches and golfers alike.”

After completing such a successful fall season, the team can’t help but be excited about its future.

prendergastk1@lasalle.edu