Going into the NESCAC Fall Championship Qualifier this past weekend at the Shuttle Meadow Country Club in Kensington, Conn., four was the magic number for the Jumbos.
Of the 10 teams competing, the top four would earn entry into the NESCAC Championships and a chance to play for a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Tufts managed a fifth place finish in last year's qualifier and knew that a top four position was well within their capabilities — especially after a very strong start to the season this year.
But the Jumbos struggled throughout the weekend, posting a four-golfer combined total of 321 on Saturday and a similar 322 on Sunday. The two-day total of 643 earned them a disappointing eighth-place finish, four strokes behind seventh-place Bates and 34 strokes outside of the top four. Tufts could do little more than look on as Middlebury, Williams, Amherst and Trinity took the coveted qualifier positions, with Middlebury winning the tournament with a combined score of 585.
Knowing they would need scores in the low 70s to make a serious run at qualifying, the Jumbos instead struggled to break 80. Freshman Sebastian Vik, who has consistently been the team's strongest player this season and had earned second place overall a week earlier, could only manage a pair of 79s, while senior tri-captains Luke Heffernan and Dan Moll shot 160 and 159, respectively.
"I was disappointed," Heffernan said. "No one played as well as they could have."
The greens were difficult both days, an added challenge in approach shots and putting. But the team was not willing to make excuses for its play. Rather, the Jumbos pointed to poor mental coping after falling behind as their biggest downfall, especially on Sunday.
"Frustration got the best of me," Heffernan said.
The Jumbos still have three tournaments left on the fall calendar and see plenty of opportunity to atone for their performance this past weekend. A tournament for freshmen today will give some of the new players, including Alex Friedman, Drew Lewis and Tim Martin, a chance to gain some much-needed experience, while this weekend's Nichols Invitational at the Green Hill Golf Course in Worcester will give the whole squad a shot at redemption.
The finale of the season will begin on Oct. 17 at the New England Championships, during which the Jumbos will play against teams from Div. I, II and III. The team has shown it has plenty of talent, and if it can put together some good rounds, they feel they will reach their potential and compete with some of the best teams in the country.
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by Ha
