Aug. 14, 2005

ROMEOVILLE - Despite some potential roadblocks and tricky turns along the way, the Lewis University women's golf team should enjoy a fun ride during the 2005-06 season.

Second-year Head Coach Skip Steffey welcomes back five players from last year's squad that placed fifth at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and captured tournament titles at Carroll and St. Francis. However, No. 1 player Lyndsey Krieger continues to recover from elbow surgery and may not be able to play until spring, while No. 4 player Amanda Lagerhausen may be available only on a limited basis as she faces a challenging academic schedule as a graduate student.

"We hope to improve our fifth-place conference finish from last year, but that may prove difficult without Lyndsey," Steffey said. "Also, the four teams that finished above us added outstanding players. But I feel we have a good group of returning players and a promising group of freshmen who will combine to produce a very competitive team.

"Michelle Dudek and Vanessa Nomura should have strong seasons after playing their first full collegiate seasons last year, and I expect to see improvement from Nicole Mason as well," Steffey added.

Krieger, a senior, led Lewis with a 14th-place performance at last year's GLVC Championship and owned the team's top scoring average (85.91). She won at North Central and turned in other top-10 finishes at Carthage (third), Elmhurst (third), St. Francis (tie for fourth) and Carroll (tie for eighth).

Dudek, a junior, was runner-up at Carroll and also placed among the top 10 at Hope (tie for fourth), St. Francis (seventh) and North Central (tie for eighth). Nomura, a sophomore, produced four top-10 finishes as well, tying for fifth at Carroll, tying for seventh at Augustana, placing eighth at Elmhurst and tying for ninth at Hope.

Steffey went beyond the Illinois border to land freshmen Jamie Siedlaczek (Canton, Mich.) and Rachel Parks (Auburn, Ind.), while freshmen Lisa Huebsch and Amy Sachs played at Bloomington Central Catholic and Hinsdale South, respectively.

Siedlaczek earned all-state honors at Salem High School, placed among the top 50 on the Powerbilt Junior Tour and won two Optimist Club junior district tournaments. Parks garnered all-area recognition three times and all-conference accolades twice at DeKalb High School and placed 18th on the Indiana Mountain Dew Junior Tour.

Huebsch was selected Central Catholic's Most Improved Player her junior and senior years and finished among the top 15 at the 2004 Cleveland Golf Girls High School Invitational. Sachs collected all-conference honors and qualified for state sectional play three times at Hinsdale South, and she also qualified for the Optimist International Tournament.

"Jamie and Rachel have proven themselves at the high-school level and at nationally sponsored local junior events," Steffey said. "Lisa and Amy are veterans of high-school golf and the grind of Illinois state competition.

"I think all four freshmen worked hard over the summer and are prepared for the upcoming season," Steffey added. "They are outstanding competitors who will strengthen our program and help us continue to build for the future."

While Steffey concedes that the 2005-06 season will be a challenging one, he and his Flyers still have set lofty goals.

"In addition to improving our GLVC standing, we want to play well enough throughout the year to qualify for the NCAA Division II regional tournament," Steffey said. "Once you get there, anything can happen.

"We also want to successfully defend our tournament championships at Carroll and St. Francis. And, I believe our team is very capable of becoming a National Golf Coaches Association top-25 All-Academic team as well."