This fall, the men’s golf team is off to one of the better starts it has had in recent years, with a win against Carlow University and Bethany College.

With a combination of young talent and dedication, head coach Sam Jones said the team has potential for continued success.

“We’ve got some new guys who are some pretty good golfers and some guys that are dedicated to the sport and want to do well,” said Jones.

On Saturday, Sept. 16, the men’s golf team traveled to Penn-State Altoona for an invitational where they finished 12th out of 14 teams. This season, the team has a diverse line-up that features some young talent, something Jones finds exciting and promising

Freshman Will Purbaugh finished with a score of 90 on the day, and said there was still room for improvement for the team.

“We played okay, it wasn’t our best day,” said Purbaugh. “We feel like we could do better. The course wasn’t hard but the greens weren’t in the greatest conditions.”

Another freshman hitting the links for the Yellow Jackets is CJ Sekanick, who finished with a 92.

“The greens definitely could have been a lot better, but that’s something we have to overcome as a team,” said Sekanick. “We have to be prepared to play on a course that isn’t in the best conditions for playing.”

Jones is optimistic based on what he has seen from his team so far this season, but notes that there are still things the team needs to improve upon.

“[Something to look for is] continued growth, because of the way the schedule worked out as well as an injury, [last] Tuesday was the first collegiate match [for freshman],” said Jones.

Last Tuesday, in the G.C. Invitational the team posted a score of 348 for the round. Senior Aaron Hill led the Jackets with a 78, finishing in a 12th place tie on the individual leader board.

“We have seen some improvement over the last little bit,” Jones said. “I was obviously pretty happy with our stroke total, that was the lowest [total] in a while.”

In addition to the invitational part of the schedule, the men picked up their first match victory since 2006 on Sept. 9, when they defeated Carlow by a score of 370-407.

“The beauty of golf is growth,” said Jones. “Realistically, I just want growth from our newer guys as well as our older ones and pushing up the standings a little bit.”

With matches throughout October, the team looks to continue to improve as they approach the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships on Oct. 2 and 3.

“With the back tees being played, it adds a lot of strategies you have to use,” Sekanick said. “You have to be confident with your long irons. We can continue to gain experience and get ready for PAC’s [Championships] in a couple weeks.”

Purbaugh had similar feelings on the outlook for the rest of the fall.

“I feel like we’re a young team so we’re in a rebuilding stage,” he said. “We can continue to gain experience and get ready for PAC’s [Championships] in a couple weeks.”

Most recently, the Yellow Jackets traveled to compete against Bethany College on Tuesday, Sept. 19 where they took away another first place finish.

Pacing the Jackets against Bethany was Hill and senior Ivan Li who carded twin scores of 95.

Next up for the Yellow Jackets will be the Westminster Invitational on Monday, Sept. 25.