The Lancer golf team wrapped up their 2017 season this past weekend at the OUA championships in Kanata, Ontario, hosted by the University of Ottawa at the Loch March Gold & Country Club.
 
Bryce Evon captured an individual bronze medal and was named an OUA all-star, while Melanie Burgess and Tavia Maurovic each earned second team all-star recognition on the women's side.
 
As a team, the Lancer men finished ninth overall while the women finished just one stroke out of a bronze medal, finishing fourth overall.
 
On the men's side of the competition, the Lancers got themselves into so unusual positions early in the first round and were unable to recover. "I thought the golf course was set up very fair and maybe even easy for a field that is this strong," said Lancer head coach Adam Wagner. 
 
With the coaches looking at the forecast for Sunday the game plan was to play slightly aggressive on the first day and post some good numbers in case the second round got rained out. Leading the way for the Lancers was Evon who played very steady golf and carded a first round even par 72.  Darren Whitehouse posted a 78, Nikishantess Penashue shot an 82, Quinten Moulson also shot 82 and Jason Buliga posted an 85.
 
Looking at the forecast for day two it appeared that there would be a small chance that the players would be playing any golf as 100% precipitation and high winds were in the forecast.  When the players arrived at the course on Sunday the rain was coming down hard but as the players began warming up the skies cleared and it turned out to be a very decent day with no rain during the round.  "I know the majority of the coaches, players and officials were very concerned with the forecast for the day and were not planning on playing any golf," said Wagner. 
 
Fortunately for the Lancers they got off to a better start and played much better than the first day. Again Evon led the way and posted another 72 to finish in a tie for the bronze medal and a spot on the first OUA all-star team.  Rounding out the scoring for the Lancers was Whitehouse posting a 74, Buliga with a 76, Penashue with a 78 and Moulson with an 88.  With the lowest four scores counting each day the Lancers finished in 9^th place. 
 

On the women's side the Lancers got off to one of their slowest starts all season and had the coaches concerned after the first few holes. "I couldn't understand what happened to start the day for the women," said Wagner.  "I am not sure if it was nerves or what it was but it was a rough start."   
They seemed to get things rolling as they completed the front nine and made their way to the back nine where they began to turn things around.  Leading the way for the Lancers in the first round was Maurovic who posted a first round 79.  Rounding out the scores for Windsor was Burgess who posted 83, Nicole Cesca who shot an 82 and Emily Stadder with an 87. 
 
Again with the threat of weather and the threat of the cancellation of the second round the first round scores were even more important and the Lancers found themselves in third place only one shot back of second and one shot clear of fourth. "We knew it was going to be a close race but certainly not this close after day one," commented Wagner. 
 
As the skies cleared and play got underway for round two the Lancers again got off to a slow start and never seemed to recover during the round.  Playing with the leading teams the Lancers slowly saw themselves fall away from the competition and suddenly started to worry about the teams chasing them.  Burgess was the low Lancer, posting an 80 and earning herself second team OUA all-star nomination.  Also receiving the second team OUA All-Star was Maurovic who posted a final round 85. 
 
Rounding out the scoring for the Lancers was Emily Stadder who posted an 86 and Nicole Cesca who was 88. When the dust settled and the scores were all tabulated unfortunately it was the Lancers who were on the outside looking in and finished in fourth position only one shot out of the bronze medal position. 
 
"It was quite disappointing to lose the bronze by only a single shot but that is golf," continued Wagner. "I kept telling the girls that every shot counts and in this case this statement stands true. A tough reality to realize but certainly a learning experience for the girls to never give up on a shot or hole because they all count".   
 
With the fourth place finish the Lancers have earned themselves a spot in the Canadian College/University Championship next May in British Columbia.