Vikings Golf Shoots for County Title

The Paul D. Schreiber High School varsity golf team began preparing for its spring season on a gray, chilly March afternoon at Sands Point Golf Club. The team, defending its back-to-back Conference III championships, is eager to improve on last year. After an undefeated regular season, the mighty Vikings fell to Farmingdale by four strokes in the county championship. The teams goals for this season are clear: win both the conference title and the county championship.

Coach Kathleen Doughty said she believes this team has the ability to do just that, as well as send as many as five golfers to the county championships as individuals.  One of them, junior Paul Tasnady, qualified for the individuals last year and Doughty said she expects him to perform even better this year. The coach has even higher aspirations for senior Kelly Shon, the lone female on the varsity golf team who competed at a tournament in Florida during the early-season practice.

The team itself consists of eight seniors, four juniors, and two sophomores. That concentration of seniors is the team's strength, according to the coach and its players.

"There are nine seniors on the team this year, so it's sort of like the perfect storm to win the county," senior Peter Doscos said. "We lost last year to Farmingdale by four strokes, but we were almost all juniors. This year, we'd really like to go undefeated in conference play, and then add another banner to the gym."

The team passed its first test on April 6 on the road against Wheatley with a 7-2 win at the Wheatley Hill Golf Club. Chris Yap, Ross Balaban, and Tasnady each shot a 40 while Colin Davies (41), Andrew Seo (52), and Doscos (43) helped the Vikings total a 204 as a team. Wheatley finished with a score of 219. The win was especially notable because two of the Vikings' top six golfers, including Shon, were not available for the match.

In a nine-day stretch from April 12-20, the varsity golf team will play in four matches; three of them at home at Sands Point Golf Club — April 12 vs. Oyster Bay, April 15 vs. Plainview and April 19 vs. Wheatley. In all, the regular season consists of 10 matches, finishing on May 10 against  Friends Academy at the Sands Point Golf Club.

Adam Pollack, like all of his teammates, is quietly confident about the team's chances at a county title — and another banner for the gym.

"Everyone played a lot over the summer," Pollack said. "And everyone improved."