Stevens: Lobo Women’s Golf 2014-15 Season Preview

September 09, 2014

New Mexico Lobos Women’s Golf – 2014-15 Preview

Up Next: Monday-Tuesday (Sept. 15-16) – Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational

By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com

There won’t be a “Senior Day” for Jill Trujillo’s Lobos this season. She has none.

But that doesn’t mean Trujillo will simply slide down the scale a notch and give her juniors a special day. She has no juniors either.

Trujillo’s 2014-15 New Mexico Lobos are one of the younger teams in the nation. She is willing to accept there might be a few bumps, bruises and bogeys during the season, but she does not look at this Lobo team as being a pack of pups.

For a simple reason: this pack has an old soul.

“They don’t see themselves as young,” said Trujillo. “They are all experienced in tournament play and coming into college golf is just going to more tournaments.

“I don’t look at them as young either because my expectations have nothing to do what class they are in.”

The expectations of Trujillo’s program are a constant and have been reached many times. Her Lobos want to win the Mountain West title and they want to advance to NCAA play. Her 2013-14 Lobos did just that and return four sophomores off that title squad: Manon Molle’, Katerina Jaeger, Eva Saulnier and Kalyn Thayer.

Trujillo has added two talented freshmen to her 2014-15 lineup: Ingrid Gutierrez and Alexandra Moisand.

Trujillo’s Lobos obviously are young and, in a way, got younger for the upcoming Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational set for Sept. 15-16 at the UNM Championship Course.

Trujillo has lost Molle’ for the Branch/McGuire and maybe for the entire fall season.

“She tripped down the stairs at Lobo Village and fractured a bone in her foot,” said Trujillo. “She missed the last step. She will get it x-rayed again in a couple of weeks to see how it is healing.”

Molle’ could take the 2014-15 season as a redshirt year, but Trujillo says her No. 1 golfer will be back for the spring. Trujillo expects Molle’ to come back with a fantastic short game. The talented sophomore might not be able to walk the courses, but she can chip and putt.

“Things like this happen,” said Trujillo. “That’s part of life, part of athletics, part of growing up. Things aren’t always perfect. The hard thing for Manon is that she had been working hard toward a goal of winning the McGuire and you have to get a 19-year-old to understand that’s not going to happen this year.”

The loss of Molle’ obviously hurts the Lobos’ scorecard. As a freshman, Molle’ made a strong charge at the Mountain West title sharing the lead going into the final 18 holes. She had the highest finish (fifth) for UNM in that title run.

To putMollé’s first-season scoring average of 75.69 into perspective, consider that UNM’s two seniors last year, Sammi Stevens and Manon De Roey, had freshmen averages of 76.32 and 77.90 respectively.

“Manon is quiet but the girls look to her,” said Trujillo. “She motivates everyone to play better because of her competitive nature and her work ethic. She is highly, highly competitive, but this whole team is that way.”

If you want to look for a silver lining in the Molle’ injury, it will be throwing another young Lobo golfer into the fire and getting that addition tournament experience. Trujillo has only six players on her roster and collegiate golf uses five-person teams with the top four rounds each day forming the team total.

So, Trujillo’s fall lineup is cast in stone as long as Mollé is wearing a cast.

“This whole team is competitive and they are out there to win,” said Trujillo. “I don’t have to have any discussions about work ethic because they are out there every chance they have working on their game.

“Sometimes the biggest adjustment to being on a college team is just being on a team and playing with teammates. You are in a situation where you want to beat your teammates because that’s the nature of golf, but you also want them to do well.

“One thing about youth is they worry too much about not disappointing anyone. We stress that they go out there and focus and take care of business and try not to think about anything else.”

Trujillo returns four letterwinners from last season, but only Mollé and Jaeger saw tournament action throughout the 2013-14 season. Mollé played in 29 rounds and Jaeger got 26 rounds under her freshman belt.

“Katerina is a very talented golfer and she has the potential to be one of the best in the country,” said Trujillo. “Her mental game now needs to mesh with her physical game. That will come with inexperience and just getting older.”

Saulnier joined the team at mid-term and played 15 rounds in the fall season. Thayer only played in six rounds. Jaeger, Saulnier and Thayer need to knock some strokes off their scorecards in 2014-15. Jaeger had a 79.85 average, Saulnier was at 80.9 and Thayer at 81.1.

“Our keys this year will be our fourth and fifth players,” said Trujillo. “We need to get our drop-score down. If we are dropping a score in the 80s, that’s too high.”

The Lobos had gone through a qualifying process to form their five-person team for the Branch/McGuire. Now, Trujillo has no substitutions for at least several weeks.

“The rest of the girls need to take up the torch,” said Trujillo. “Ingrid (Gutierrez) is one of the top junior golfers from Mexico. Alex (Moisand) has a very solid game and I expect a lot of low scores from her. We have the talent.

“This is a special group of young ladies. They are all supportive and helpful to each other and they want success for the whole team. You don’t always get that from every player. They are fun to be around and fun to watch play.”

Editor’s Note: Richard Stevens is a former national award-winning Sports Columnist and Associate Sports Editor at The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.

New Mexico Lobos’ 2014-15 Roster

Name