Hoosiers look toward freshmen after strong fall

While most other IU fall sports are just hitting the midpoint of their seasons, the men's golf team is already done for the fall and won't play again until February. \nHead coach Mike Mayer used the last tournament of the season to get his younger players three more rounds of tournament golf before the winter break and subsequent spring season. In fact, the lineup at last week's Xavier Invitational was composed of four freshmen and a sophomore, a first for the IU golf program.\n"We went in there with the youngest team to ever play for Indiana University golf ... and we went in with a reason," Mayer said. "We wanted to find out what these youngsters would do."\nWhat the youngsters accomplished was finish in a tie for fifth place out of 19 teams. Still, their play wasn't flawless. While there were mostly positives coming out of this week, there were also, as expected, growing pains.\n"They were focused and disciplined, they did everything I asked them to do," Mayer said. "They did though, and continue to make freshmen mistakes."\nAn example of that focus and discipline is the expectations the team members put on themselves. Freshman Jorge Campillo, who finished in a tie for 19th to lead the Hoosiers, said the team could have fared much better last weekend.\n"We didn't play very well," Campillo said. "We missed a lot of shots, and I am not happy with that last tournament. We have to practice and try to improve for the spring."\nImproving for the spring seems to be a common sentiment for the whole team, but especially the five members of the freshman class, who was thrown in to the mix early this year for the Hoosiers.\nThe fact IU never had more than four freshmen in any tournament's five-player lineup is a testament to the kind of transition the team has made. After losing two time, all-American Jeff Overton and No. 2 player Heath Peters from last year's team, the freshmen have played an integral role this season.\nYet freshman Seth Brandon said he feels the team can do better, and will prove so in the spring. \n"We didn't live up to our potential at all," Brandon said. "We came in here and were supposed to be a can't miss freshmen class, and we missed a little bit in the fall."\nFor all of the talk about missed potential, Mayer said he still is happy with how his youthful team has responded, and thinks the good has outweighed the bad so far. \n"I don't think we played as well as we could any tournament," he said. "But I thought we got better each tournament, and overall I am pleased with the fall"