After a lengthy break, Seton Hall’s Women’s Golf team are hard at work preparing for the second half of their season. In the build up to the Big East Championship, Coach Natalie Desjardins and her team will compete in six tournaments across the east coast and midwest.
Focus during the team’s winter training sessions have honed in on developing the mental aspect of each golfer and their physical conditioning. Knowing weather conditions are rough this time of year and the level of competition only gets harder, Desjardins said they have tried to instill a persevering mentality within each golfer.
“I think for us the biggest thing is to get stronger in the gym. We’ve been relying a lot on our strength and conditioning coach to push our girls in the workouts” Desjardins said. She further added that despite conditioning being a focus point of these sessions, having a proper mentality throughout this part of the season is 90% of getting the job done.
As far as expectations go, Desjardins just wants more of the same from her team. The team finished the fall season in the top 75 teams across the country, a goal they set out to accomplish by the end of spring, and are still hungry for more. Last year’s second place finish in Big East serves as further motivation to keep growing as team and as individual golfers, but there’s a program-wise belief that the current process will bring them a championship this year.
Ahead of the spring season’s kickoff, Desjardins specifically pointed out the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational at Ohio State as a big test for her team “You’re surrounded by some of the best golfers in NCAA” she explained excitedly, “and I feel like it’s a great way to be ready for Big East.” The decision to play six tournaments in the spring was also a strategic plan implemented by the coaches to help the team stay in consistent rhythm ahead of Big East competition.
Lizzie Win, a junior on the team, has been one of the key figures in Seton Hall’s early successes this season. Since returning from winter break, Win has consistently been in the gym at least one time a day to do her part in developing her strength.
“I’m capable of winning, and I’m capable of winning in really bad conditions” a confident Win asserted. “I’m chasing another individual title in the spring, but our ultimate goal is Big East and winning Big East as a team.” Win also added that the program is yet to have a golfer win an individual award at Big East, but she hopes to be the first to do so.
It’s a level of confidence her individual title at the Delaware Lady Blue Hen Invitational has further fostered, but it’s also one that has positively spread amongst the rest of the team. “The big part about it is setting an example for the rest of my team,” Win began, “because coach always says ‘you’re a leader on the golf course’ to me.”
By leading by example, Win said that it’s her job to keep her composure even when a shot does not necessarily come off as she planned. Golf is a game of enjoyable simplify and that, as Win said, is what people need to remember when playing at such a high level.
Justin Sousa can be reached at justin.sousa@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Sousa7474.
