By Kyle LoJacono
The Steinbrenner girls golf team defeated Sickles 161-248 at home on Oct. 11 to finish the regular season 10-0.
“You never expect to go undefeated through a regular season,” said Warrior coach Mark Mann. “I knew we had a good team coming in, it was just going to be a matter of them working hard and making improvements from Day 1.”
Steinbrenner defeated Gaither, Sickles, Plant and Wharton each twice and also took down Berkeley Preparatory and Freedom once. Two matches were rained out.
The Warriors were able to navigate the perfect regular season despite having a number of young players, including five underclassmen to only two seniors. The squad also lost Alex Milan, who won four individual district championships while in high school and played in the state tournament three times.
Alex, who was named the All-Laker/All-Lutz News Girls Golfer of the Year in 2010, is now playing at Florida State University on a scholarship, but she still has a presence for Steinbrenner.
“Whenever I’m about to putt all I hear is her telling me not to do this wrong or that wrong,” said Andi Milan, Alex’s sister. “So in many ways she’s still with me on the golf course. … It’s been an awesome season. Of course I miss my sister, and it would have been great to have her here for this, but as a team we’ve just grown together. I can’t say enough about what our freshmen have been able to do to help put this team together.”
Freshman Claire Becker said the closeness of the team is a result of how accepting the seniors have been.
“I’m really surprised actually with how nice they were from the start,” Becker said. “They could have been mean to the freshmen, but they were awesome. I’ve enjoyed every minute playing with them.”
Fellow freshman Kelsy Holbert added, “It’s a lot to live up to, because they had a good team last year. The good thing is we’ve been like a family, and I think that helped us come together. At the beginning of the season I was scared because I didn’t know what it was going to be like on a high school team. Now we’re all so close, and it seems weird that I even felt that way.”
Senior Michelle Stein said she and senior Sara Bair did everything they could to make the underclassmen feel welcome, including giving them rides to matches and practice, tips on their game and guidance.
“Both Sara and I tried to go out of our way to show the freshmen we accepted them,” Stein said.
The final match of the year was made a little sweeter for Stein, as she and Bair attended Sickles (2-6) as freshmen before Steinbrenner opened in 2009.
“I think that added to the emotions,” Stein said. “It was definitely surreal. It was a little nerve racking and bittersweet walking that last hole. It was sad, but I was also happy because I’ve come this far.”
Mann also coached at Sickles for four seasons before coming to Steinbrenner three years ago. It is the first time one of his teams has finished the regular season without a loss in his seven years coaching high school golf. The squad went 10-2 last year before winning the Class 1A-District 14 championship, finishing as the regional runner-up and taking 11th at states.
“It’s the coolest thing that has ever happened to me,” Becker said. “It’s just awesome to come in and go 10-0.”
Becker shot a team-best two-over 38 in the final regular season match. Stein posted a 39, while Brooke Deal and Holbert had 42s. Milan recorded a 48. Bair was sick and unable to play in the final match.
The Warriors played in the 2A-10 district tournament on Oct. 17, but results were not available by press time.
