New Mexico Lobos Women’s Golf – At 2015 Mountain West Championships
Where: Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club – Rancho Mirage, Calif.
When: 8 a.m. (MT) – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
First-Round Pairings/Golfstat.com rankings: Group 1 – UNLV (20), Fresno State (69), Nevada (102). Group 2 – New Mexico (118), Boise State (82), San Diego State (27). Group 3 – Wyoming (155), Colorado State (108), San Jose State (45). (Note: Lobos tee off at 7:45 a.m. (PT)
The Lobos: Manon Molle, Katerina Jaeger, Eva Saulnier, Ingrid Gutierrez, Alexandra Moisand
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
In the New Mexico Lobos’ golf bags, there are a couple of necessary hitchhikers; if you will, a few extra clubs. One iron is called “optimism” and the other is called “realism.”
The University of New Mexico women’s golf team will take both to the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at the Mission Hills Country Club as necessary weapons the Lobos need in order to defend their 2014 Mountain West Championship.
The Lobos need optimism. They have to believe they can play better than they have all year and just like 2014 pull an upset at the 2015 Mountain West chase.
“It’s up to the coaches and the players to realize and believe that moments of brilliancy can be turned into a championship,” said Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo, the 2014 Mountain West Coach of The Year. “They are all good enough to do it.
“Last year they came out for the final round and came together as a team and believed in each other and went out and did what they had to do.”
The realism is that 2015 probably will be harder. The gap between New Mexico and the so-called favorites in 2014 was not that big. The Lobos had two outstanding seniors on the 2014 team in Sammi Stevens and Manon De Roey.
This year Trujillo has no seniors and no juniors and the Lobos’ play during the 2014-15 season does not promise a 2015 title. Things have to change. Trujillo accepts this reality.
“We have our work cut out for us. We know it,” she said. “The high point is the team understands that and they know what it’s going to take. We need to shoot lower rounds than we have been shooting and we need more consistency.
“But this is the Mountain West Tournament where everyone has a brand new start.”
On paper and on the course, the UNLV Rebels are the team to beat and likely there is a hunger churning in the Rebs’ gut from last year’s title chase. They were the team to beat, but did not win. The Lobos grabbed the title with gutsy golf on the final day, but UNM also was helped out by bad golf from other teams.
The Rebels have not thrown out too many bad rounds in 2015. They carry Golfstat.com’s No. 20 ranking into the 54-hole battle. They are led by senior Dana Finkelstein, who has been the class of the league for several seasons and is ranked No. 4 nationally by Golfstat.com. She has six Top 10 finishes in 2014-15 and two wins, but is coming off a 45th in the ASU Invitational where UNLV was 15th out of 15 teams.
Finkelstein was the favorite to win the MW title in 2014, but didn’t. The Dinah Shore course can be nasty. Still, Finkelstein’s 71.5 scoring average gets your attention as does the 72.9 average posted by teammate Harley Dubsky. Dubsky is No. 47 in Golfstat.com’s rankings followed by Fresno State’s Madchen Ly at No. 53 (73.1 average), San Jose State’s Megan Osland at No. 59 (73.3) and San Diego State’s Emma Henrikson at No. 77 (73.5).
To put Finkelstein’s dominance into perspective, her record this season against Dubsky is 7-1 and Finkelstein is 61-6-2 against the top 20 golfers in the Mountain West. Dubsky is 50-16-3.
San Diego State is expected to be the toughest challenge for UNLV. The Aztecs are ranked No. 27. San Jose State is at No. 45. The rest of the Mountain West has to be looked at as long shots for the 2015 title
The Lobos are led by sophomore Manon Molle, who did not play the fall season due to a broken bone in her foot. She will bring a 74.58 scoring average into the Mountain West chase and is talented enough to challenge for the title. Molle finished fifth in 2014.
The Lobos need the rest of the team to improve their scoring in order to challenge for the 2015 title. Katerina Jaeger has an 80.9 average, Eva Saulnier is at 79.0, Ingrid Gutierrez scores at a 78.7 clip and Alexandra Moisand is No. 2 on the team with a 77.6 scoring average.
The Lobos lost by 49 shots to SDSU in the Bruin Wave Invitational and lost by 57 shots to UNLV at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational. Like Trujillo said, the Lobos have their work cut out for them.
“They have all had their moments of brilliance this year,” said Trujillo. “They all need to raise their levels up a little bit but there is no question they all have the talent to do it.
“I believe every dog has its day. It’s one tournament and only three rounds and anybody can win it.”
New Mexico’s expectations come from a tradition of MW success. The Lobos have eight league championships with the last two coming in 2010 and 2014. Only the Lobos and UNLV have won a Mountain West title. UNM’s last individual champion was Manon De Roey in 2013.