After a solid performance in the 2015-2016 school year, the Ashland men and women’s golf teams get set to tee off the new season.

The men’s team finished seventh in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament one year ago after a surge towards the end of the tournament that propelled them from tenth to seventh on the final day.  The women turned in a very solid tournament finishing third.

The men had a big performance from freshman Austin Kondratick who shot a 226 and tied for 12th place in the tournament. He will be returning this fall looking to build on his highly successful freshmen season.

The men’s team is very young and has recruited four freshmen to join the program along with five sophomores three juniors and a lone senior.

“We do have four freshmen, but they all have tournament experience,” said men’s golf coach Darrin Jones. “I expect all of these players to come in and compete. They should push the established players to play at a higher level as well.”

The young talent should give the team room to grow and make a deep run in the GLIAC Tournament.

“Our expectations every season are to compete with the best schools in our conference,” said Jones. “We feel that we can win any tournament we play in and always set our sites on a GLIAC title and a national championship berth.”

The women’s team is very familiar with the national championship as they sent former player, Ali Green, to the tournament a year ago.

This will be a big loss for the women’s team, as she led the Eagles in nearly every category including three tournament victories.

The team will be returning two seniors, Kaitlin Neumann and Emily Jereb. These seniors will be a major piece in the success of the women’s team as they performed well a year ago.

The Women’s team will be also be helped by two returning freshmen who should be able to make an even bigger impact than they did last season.

The Men’s team will tee things off in the Malone Tournament on Sept. 9-10. The Women will begin their season on Sept. 5-6 at the Youngstown State Kickoff tournament.

Sophomore Austin Kondratick looks to build on a strong performance last year.