Oct. 24, 2006
Commodore Notebook Archive – click here
Golfers Return to Red Numbers
Did you realize that our women’s golf team has now won two consecutive major team championships?
The Commodores rallied from 16 strokes down at Stanford last weekend by shooting a school record nine-under par 275 on the final day, topping a strong field that included No. 1 ranked Duke, Georgia and a number of west coast powers. Just a couple weeks back, Vanderbilt topped many of the east coast titans in winning the Lady Tar Heel Classic in North Carolina.
Suddenly it’s starting to feel a lot like 2004 around here, the year the Commodores won the Southeastern Conference championship and placed fifth in the NCAA Tournament. That team, which contained three All-America performers, won five meets en route to that memorable year.
But the wheels came off the Black and Gold championship express when sophomore star May Wood withdrew from school with academic problems. In a sport such as golf, where rosters are small and depth is an issue, losing a key team member two years early is no small matter. Let’s say you lose a player that consistently shoots a 73 and replace her with someone averaging 81. College teams play three rounds – 54 holes – so that one lineup change adds up to 24 shots! When you look at the final standings and a team is 24 strokes back it appears it was blown out when actually it may be just one player away.
This year’s tournament team has a nice blend with seniors Chris Brady and Kristen Svicarovich – the first seniors since ’04 – one junior, one sophomore and one freshman. Jacqui Concolino has been in the Top 10 in 10 of her 15 college tournaments with two wins over her year and a half as a Commodore.
Soccer Preparing for Post-Season Play
Vanderbilt’s women’s soccer team sits in second place in SEC standings heading into the final weekend of play. The `Dores have 10 wins, giving the program double-digit victories for the first time since the 1997-1998 seasons.
The hallmark of Ronnie Coveleskie’s program has been its defense and this year, All-America goal keeper Tyler Griffin has nine shutouts, adding to her school record with each one. Of course a strong defensive unit helps; Mississippi State managed just one shot at goal in VU’s 4-0 rout last Sunday.
Speaking Up
We are actively working to get our coaches and key administrators out in our community and you can play a role. If you are in an organization that typically has guest speakers, let’s work together to arrange for a Commodore connection at an upcoming meeting.
There is a Speakers Bureau link under the “Athletics” bar atop our new web site that details how you can arrange for a speaker, or you can call Renee Mackin at 615-343-4499 to get the ball rolling.
One word of caution: it is logical that people would want to hear, for example, Bobby Johnson speaking during football season, Melanie Balcomb during basketball season and so forth. When coaches are in season, that is perhaps the most difficult time for them to find time for outside speaking appearances and they tend to do very little then. So, therefore, you will find that most coaches are typically available during their off-seasons.
We believe we have a number of interesting speakers, not merely our four revenue producing head coaches, so take a look at the list on our web site and see if that isn’t good food for thought.
We’ll look forward to working with you to produce an interesting and informative program. We want to be at a meeting with you soon!