Lee golf team looks to repeat as national champions
Photo by Shane Tretheway
The men and women golf teams of Lee University are no strangers to success. Both teams were the SSAC champions in 2012, and were the NCCAA National Champions of 2013.
Men and Women's head golf coach John Maupin is entering his seventh season coaching the Flames. The national championship win in the fall of 2013 was the first for Maupin.
'It was bit of a dream come true,' Maupin said of winning a national title.
Although it was only their first national championship win, the Flames golf team embraced their victory with class.
'We just wanted to be relaxed and confident,' Maupin said about the team's mindset.
Though winning the national championship was an incredible feat, the team is focusing their attention on the upcoming season.
The Flames want to make their mark upon Lee's history. And since Lee University has never had both men's and women's golf teams win back-to-back NCCAA National championships, they do not want to settle for just one national championship ring.
'We keep our expectations high. The players returning can lean on the experience of last season, and the new players are hungry to show that they can win,' Maupin said of a chance to win back-to-back titles.
The women's team has lost three members within the past year through graduating and transferring students. Madison Alexander, who was recruited during the second year of the women's golf program, is the only senior on the team.
'I didn't really know what to expect, but it has gone above any expectation that I could have had,' Alexander said of the program.
Although the team has lost a few players, Alexander believes that this team is just as talented.
'The team is different, but we are just as good as last season,' Alexander said.
This is Alexander's fourth and final year of eligibility, but she plans to make her last year count.
Alexander and junior Bernadette Little are the only returning girls with experience. But thanks to recruiting and girls coming off of redshirts, the women's team has much talent.
The men's team is led by upperclassmen leadership Taylor Davis, Peyton Sliger and Scott Murray.
'[The team] wants to lean on the leadership of the returning golfers,' Maupin said of the men's golf team.
Matt Strube, Shea Sylvester and Adam Wright are returning sophomores who also have experience in knowing what it takes to win a national championship.
Overall, the men's and women's golf teams are both capable of winning a national championship. But Maupin says that to win it again, it has to be a team effort in the end.
