Eagles compete in last SoCon Championship

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Emily Arnold

After a season full of ups and downs, the Georgia Southern University men’s golf team will end the season and their time in the Southern Conference at the 2014 SoCon Championship Tournament.

With the Schenkel win still fresh in their minds, the men’s golf team is expecting to compete equally with the top part of the field at their final SoCon Championship tournament.

“We’re always really confident going into conference week,” senior captain Will Evans said. “Winning the Schenkel has helped our confidence a lot. We’re always prepared to go into conference week prepared to win”

There are expectations and challenges going into every tournament and this one will be no different. Head Coach Larry Mays said, like every tournament, getting all five of the players on the field scoring well at the same time will be the hardest struggle.

“The hardest thing is getting all five guys playing well at the same time, so our goal is to get up there and have them all playing well and get four good scores on the board each and every day,” Mays said.

Another struggle for this team will be their unfamiliarity with the course. The Eagles will be competing on the Pinehurst National Golf Club course in Pinehurst, N.C. for the first time.

“I’ve never actually played up at Pinehurst and it’s a big golf community with a lot of golf history. It’s a really cool place for my final conference to be,” Evans said. “I’m pretty excited about coming up and playing that golf course.”

Not only does this tournament mark the end for senior players, but it also marks the end of an era in the GSU golf program. This is the last Southern Conference championship tournament because of the athletic program’s move to the Sun Belt Conference. GSU has had three conference championship titles and eight second place finishes. This year they feel they are prepared to get their fourth.

“We’ve been a competitive team all year,” Mays said. “We’ve played the last group well a number of times which is our goal every week.”

“I fully expect the team to compete and to be right up there with the top part of the field. We’re extremely prepared to go out and to win,” Evans said.

The tournament will begin on April 20 and will continue through April 22.

“We’re going up to compete to win,” Mays said. “That’s our goal going in is to bring home a Southern Conference championship. We’re one of the top teams in the conference and our ultimate goal is to bring home the trophy. Our expectations will stay with us.”