UCCS golf team starts spring season off cold, looks to improve over next couple weeks

In recent years, the UCCS golf team has become accustomed to preseason hype. But much like last year, the Mountain Lions have failed to live up to that hype. Despite a lofty national ranking of 12 by the national golf stat polls, the team has failed to crack the top five in either of their first two tournaments of the season.

“Nothing special so far, it’s early and it takes us some time to get going,” said head coach Phil Trujillo. “Last spring I said the same thing, but we never got going.”
So far, the team has played in two tournaments; one at the Saint Edward’s Invitational in Austin, Texas, and the other at the SoCal Intercollegiate Invitational in Newport Beach, Calif.

“The two tournaments so far have had strong fields with many of the top teams in the nation competing in them,” stated Trujillo. “Most of these programs are warm weather schools so they’ve had a jump on us with playing too.”
Although the competition has been stiff, both the players and Trujillo know the team isn’t playing up to its potential.

“We really need some of our guys to take the reins and put us in position to win,” he said. Specifically, Trujillo referred to two players who he believes have the ability to lead the Mountain Lions this year.

“We’ll need good play from fifth-year senior Mitch Buchner and ask our true freshman Patrick Skakel to step up. “These two guys are key to our spring success,” he said.

Though the early season funk is similar to last year, the team is much different. The Mountain Lions have lost three quality players who were all seniors and Trujillo says that has hurt the team a little bit.

“They put a lot of pressure on themselves to get us to the NCAAs and be a national competitor,” stated Trujillo. “This team is younger and needs to gel better with each other. We just need to focus better and they need to understand the role that they play on the team.”
The Mountain Lions will have a short break before heading to Phoenix for their next event at the Grand Canyon Spring Invitational. The tournament will take place at Wigwam Golf Club on March 26 and 27. Trujillo believes the team has some work to do, but should be ready to go for the tournament.