Exhibition match kicks off fall season

It was Aug. 26 last year when Montana women's golf coach Matt Higgins arrived in Missoula to start his new job. He had players on his team, and he was their coach. But just days before the start of fall-semester classes, they had never met. What a difference a year makes.

"I didn't realize until a few days ago how late that really was," said Higgins, whose team will go up against Montana State on Saturday and Sunday in an unscored exhibition at Old Works Golf Club in Anaconda. "I didn't meet the players until the first practice last year."

That unfamiliarity, in a sport that relies so heavily on the coach-player relationship, showed in the fall, when Montana averaged a team score of 315.7.

As the year went by and fall turned to spring, the team's scores started dropping. Montana's six best scoring rounds of the year came in two of the last three spring tournaments, with rounds of 307, 298 and 297 at the Big Sky Conference championship in Boulder City, Nev.

"It's nice now knowing what this group is capable of," said Higgins. "Last year I didn't know what drives them or what makes them play better. That's a huge advantage. I think we saw that in the spring. As everyone got more comfortable, we started playing better."

Higgins' second team features a pair of experienced seniors, two juniors, one of whom is a newcomer, and six underclassmen.

Five of Higgins' 10 players have not competed in a Griz uniform: junior Kari Opatz, who transferred from Concordia-St. Paul, where Higgins previously coached, redshirt freshman Abby Pfeifer and true freshmen Teigan Avery, of Kalispell, and Caitlyn and Caylyn Villatora, of Lahaina, Hawaii.

"We've got some experience, but we're still a young team. I'm excited about the freshmen we have coming in and our transfer. They are going to add a lot," said Higgins.

One thing they'll add is depth. With Pfeifer redshirting last year, Higgins only had seven players competing to make his five-player travel team.

This year's roster is bulked up to 10. None enter the season as expected redshirts, so all will be competing to make the cut. Qualifying to travel to the first tournament, the Washington State Cougar Cup, in Pullman, Wash., starts this weekend at Old Works.

"Having that many players is going to be a big change. It should bring a little more intrasquad competition, which I like," said Higgins. "They're going to have to grind to qualify for those spots. We're going to see what they're made of."

The team's leading scorer last year was Baylee Barckley, who had a stroke average of 77.8 as a true freshman and had a breakout performance at the Big Sky championship, where she shot rounds of 72, 73 and 72 to tie for fifth.

Hailey Hoagland, now a junior, had a season stroke average of 78.0. She played six rounds at 75 or better in the fall and spring.

"Since Baylee and Hailey were so successful last year, it will be their job to lead us on the course this year. They've both had great summers, so I'm expecting some exciting things from them."

The team's seniors are Amanda Kahn and Alexa Schendelman, both of whom showed the effect last year of having a new coach -- someone with different ideas, different ways of communicating on the course -- in their lives.

Both players had season averages in 2015-16 that were more than three strokes higher than they recorded the year before, when Schendelman averaged a 76.3, Kahn a 78.3.

Schendelman was a big part of the team's lower scores in the spring. After shooting six of seven rounds in the 80s last fall, Schendelman carded 10 of 14 rounds in the spring in the 70s, with a second-round 72 at the Big Sky championship.

"Lexi started playing really well toward the end of the spring and at the conference championship. As a fifth-year senior, I know she's ready to go," said Higgins.

"Amanda stayed in Missoula all summer, so I know she worked on her game a lot. She's hitting the ball as well as I've seen in my short time here."

Hoagland picked up a junior-class teammate when Opatz, who played for Higgins her freshman year at Concordia-St. Paul, transferred in June to Montana. Barckley is joined in the sophomore class by Sadie Crippen.

In addition to Higgins' three incoming freshmen, he returns Pfeifer, who the coach was high on last year. But spending a year as a redshirt is different than being in the mix of players who are competing at practice to qualify to travel to the next tournament.

"Abby is excited to get out there and be able to qualify to travel," said Higgins. "But the pressure is a little different, the nerves are a little different. When you redshirt, you can play without the pressure of having to qualify.

"She has all the tools to be one of the kids who steps in right away. She gained some confidence last year, mostly in herself and in her golf game."

Montana will compete five times this fall, six times in the spring. After the Cougar Classic on Sept. 19-20, the Grizzlies will compete at tournaments in Oregon, California and Washington before closing the fall schedule at Hot Springs Village, Ark., Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

The spring schedule will start up Feb. 13-14 at the Battle at the Rock in Riverside, Calif.

But first up: this weekend's unscored exhibition against Montana State in the Battle at Old Works. "This fall is all about seeing that development and gradual improvement week after week," said Higgins.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Sadie Crippen

Hailey Hoagland

Amanda Kahn

Kari Opatz

Abby Pfeifer

Alexa Schendelman

Caylyn Villatora

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