Golf wins tourney

Hurricane Ivan’s wrath turned this weekend’s Williams Invitational into a single-day, 18-hole shootout. With little room for error and under horrible weather conditions, the UR golf team turned in their best performance of the young season, capturing the overall team title by two strokes. Even with two sparkling Sunday individual performances, the team stressed a team ethos as the source of their success. “Our success can be attributed to a total team effort,” freshman Stephen Goodridge said. “Our guys played to their abilities and when we do that, we always have a good chance to win.” Following last week’s strong showing with an even better one, Goodridge fired a one under 70, which earned him medalist honors. Patrick Shanahan, playing in his first tourney of the year, shot a 74, putting him in fourth place. Shanahan too placed the emphasis on his teammates in discussing UR’s success.”It was great winning this past weekend at Williams,” Shanahan said. “It was a true team effort because both Rob Sherman and Joe Derrigo finished even par on their last five holes.” Coach Richard Johnson also praised the two sophomores’ performances, 79 and 80 respectively, which allowed UR to hold off second-place Williams College. A UR golfer gained the medalist honor at Williams for the second season in a row, last year the title went to Shanahan. For his weekend Goodridge received three athletic honors – including University Athletic Association Player of the Week, Liberty League Rookie of the Week and Rochester Area College Male Athlete of the Week.Goodridge and Shanahan both agreed that the team has the confidence to gain more than a single victory this season, as long as the team remains focused.UR’s team focus will be put to the test as it faces a week of stiff competition. On Thursday the team heads to Saratoga to compete at the ECAC qualifier and the Liberty League Championships, which are held simultaneously. This weekend the team makes the short trip to Victor, N.Y. and the Ravenwood Golf Club to compete in the ECAC Division III Championship.Allard can be reached at dallard@campustimes.org.