Patience Yobp - For The Yellow Jacket

The Waynesburg men’s golf team completed its season this past week with a solid performance in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships. The team placed second to last, but finished with a very convincing final round of the fall.

Head coach Sam Jones felt the Yellow Jackets had an overall solid season, but believes the team can improve for the spring season.

“This final match showed me that our team is definitely capable of being where I think they can be regarding the standings,” said Jones. “I feel that we still have plenty of room for improvement and development.”

At the beginning of the season, the team’s main goal was to ascend in the standings, placing above Bethany but below Thiel. Even though this goal was not achieved, Jones noticed how his players showed they can compete.

“In the final round of the championships we only lost to Thiel by a single shot,” Jones said. “Not only does that give me confidence with my players, but it makes them feel that they can also compete.”

Sophomore Will Purbaugh echoed his coach with words of belief for his teammates.

“While I myself may not have played well that match, I feel that was our best round as a unit,” Purbaugh said. “We shot the ball well and made the putts we needed to. I think we can for sure improve and be more prepared for the spring season.”

The season had many highs and lows for the team. While they will go into the spring season with a 1-0 record in dual matches, they also had a few shortcomings.

“Throughout the course of the season we had a couple ups and downs,” Jones said. “Even though there were some days that we could have played much better, I am happy with the way we finished.”

Purbaugh, one of the lower scorers throughout the season, also felt that his teammates performed well as the season progressed.

“We had some good days and some bad, but I think that as time went on we battled well,” said Purbaugh. “We finished well as a team and we are going to work over the winter so that our momentum keeps up.”

Jones also talked highly in regard to the freshmen on the team. This year, there were three freshmen on the team, and Jones feels they transitioned well from playing in high school to collegiate.

“I think they all did a nice job,” Jones said. “I know Luke Diel was our lowest scorer in the championships, but he was not alone in adjusting well.”

Jones believes that his team is in the best position in a long time that it can compete to improve its standings.

“The goal for spring is the same as it was for the fall,” said Jones. “We are always going to be looking to improve and always going to be wanting to get better.”

The team will start its spring season during Waynesburg’s spring break in March hoping to gain momentum and raise in standings.