Golf: St. Mary’s ready to make some noise

St. Mary?s lost eight seniors to graduation and begins the season without six of its top 10 golfers from last year?s team. But a strong summer has the Spartans? returning players ready to compete again.
? Last year:The Spartans finished 14-4, 7-3 in the Catholic Central League, and St. Mary?s qualified for the state sectional tournament for the seventh straight season.
? Coach:The 14 wins were the most since coach Jay Fiste took the helm in 2009.
? Key players gone:In addition to Shawn MacBurnie, who capped off his senior year with a top-five finish in the state finals last year, the Spartans lost Richie McDonald, Emmitt O?Shea, Nick Amenta, Brendan O?Neill, Ryan Borders, Chris McDonald, and Kyle Pert.
? Key players this year:Juniors Andrew Kreamer and Max Emmerich, sophomores Ryan Turenne and Chris Fioravanti, and seventh-grader Luke Smith.
? Strengths:The team?s returners saw significant playing time on a very competitive team last year and played a lot of golf over the summer to help improve their game.
? Question marks:The Spartans are young; They do not have a senior returning to the varsity (Tyler Devine is moving up from the junior varsity).
? Opening match:Sept. 9 against Cardinal Spellman.
? Big match on the schedule:Fiste sees Austin Prep, who shared the CCL championship with St. Mary?s a year ago, as its toughest competition again this fall. The teams are scheduled to meet on Sept. 17.
? Coach?s outlook:?The bottom line is that it?s going to be a challenging year. I believe our kids can compete in the league and our biggest goal is to qualify for the state championship.”Josh Kummins can be reached at [email protected].