Split into two parts as the site is limited to 10,000 words per post.
Sara Doell looking FOREward to more success at Seton Hall.
By Zack Cziryak
Trove sports corespondent.
May 27, 2015
The Seton Hall women's golf program capped off the 2014-2015 season with its second straight BIG EAST Championship banner. That would be an impressive display of golf in any context, but it is more impressive considering the program has only been established a short five years.
“I’d say that I believed it could be this good but sure I’m pleasantly surprised that we did what we did,” Head Coach Sara Doell noted.
Doell put a portfolio together of yearly goals when she was interviewing for the coaching position. “One of the goals for our fifth year was to be top three in the Big East with a national ranking of 125 or better.”
Albeit in a reconstituted BIG EAST, the Pirates wrapped up back-to-back conference championships and consecutive bids to the NCAA regionals more than accomplishing Doell's initial goal. The team also won a total of four tournaments in 2015-16 and finished the current season ranked 124th nationally.
“I set goals and any goal that I thought we’d reach we’ve actually surpassed. To have as many academic All-Americans, wins and Big East all conference selections, well it’s nice to see your vision come to fruition.”
Doell’s vision is one that she mapped out five years ago when Seton Hall made the decision to begin a women’s golf program. Coming to South Orange from Penn State University after being an assistant coach at her Alma mater, the chance to build a program from scratch is one that she found irresistible.
“To me it was a chance to start something from the beginning without taking over someone else’s program. I had a vision of what I thought could be a successful program. That was the big draw for me taking this job, the chance to start something from scratch.”
The program Doell started has made a remarkable journey in her short time on the job culminating in her earning back-to-back BIG EAST Coach of the Year awards.
While the awards are certainly an honor for Doell, it is of secondary importance to the accolades earned by the team. The Seton Hall coach gives credit for winning the awards to her athletes and their performance at the conference championships.
“When you win the tournament that helps and I feel honored to have gotten it (the awards) twice in a row. It’s really important to me and makes you feel respected. But winning the BIG EAST this year means more than winning Coach of the Year. That honestly means more to me.”
The process of building the program from scratch has taken on many components for Doell, who added a spring home tournament to the schedule recently.
“We started hosting our home tournament a few years ago. I waited a few years and then I asked Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. They’ve done a really great job of accommodating us,” Doell said, adding that the Trump name has been an asset in raising the profile of the event.
“When we went to the regionals (in 2014) I had a couple of teams ask to play in our event. I had Georgia come and Yale and others. You start getting better teams interested in your events.”
Sara Doell and Ali Kruse
The Pirates’ recent success has also helped in adding to the program’s growing prestige. But next season for that to continue Doell will have have to deal with the daunting task of replacing both her number one and number two golfers Ali Kruse and Erin McClure, each lost to graduation.
“You look at the numbers. It’s a hard hit to lose the two of them. I really believe we have some young talent that’s going to step up. You’re kind of in that state of mourning but I know we’ll be fine next year. I think we have a strong chance to repeat.”
The depth and overall talent of this year’s team gives Doell confidence going into next year, particularly the play of Cassie Pantelas, who became first freshman in the program’s young history to win a tournament, as well as the play of other returning players such as Karlie Zabrosky.
“It was a mix of a lot of things,” Doell said of the team’s performance this year. “It was to a degree pure talent. We replaced Hannah (Basalone) with Cassie and Cassie performed well. She was the first freshman to ever win a tournament and it just added to the team's confidence.”
“Karlie actually led us in the fall,” she added. “I feel we had more depth, character confidence, everything. Then you add what I think is the most important piece team chemistry and you have the results you're looking for. It’s an individual sport that you mold into a team sport. I really believe that's why were able to have the season that we did. The girls really supported each other.”
The recent success of the program has made an impression on the recruiting trail for Doell, who hopes to use it to help bring young ladies into the program that will continue to help fill the Pirate trophy cases. Doell’s recruiting pitch has evolved from asking recruits to come help start a winning program to now continuing a winning tradition and further moving the program up the rung of the collegiate ladder.
“Right from the beginning when you’re starting a program you use the first couple of years stressing the excitement of the newness of your program. Now that we’re through our five-year cycle we’re on this path of success and we need to continue to stress recruiting to continue that success.
As with most sports at the Hall, the South Orange campus presents both advantages and disadvantages.
“I have to be realistic about how I recruit. We are a small, private, catholic university in New Jersey. We don’t have football or the large collegiate atmosphere that some people are looking for,” Doell said, admitting that recruits have turned her down for Seton Hall’s lack of a football experience.
“It takes a lot of work to succeed in that situation. The success of the program has helped. You win and get to go to regionals and have a selection party and the accompanying fame. I’ve definitely used that to help in our recruiting effort.”
The proximity of New York City and the internship opportunities it offers have also played a prominent role in Doell’s recruiting pitch as many of the young women she finds herself recruiting exhibit a strong interest in pursuing a business degree.
Support from the athletic department has come in various forms for Doell and the women’s golf program, allowing for her to build Seton Hall into an even more desirable destination for recruits. This support is of course headed by the recent and future renovations to the overall athletic department’s facilities.
“I think they’re most important for recruiting. I think a lot of that is really important because you can show them that four years ago this building (the Richie Regan Athletic Center) looked nothing like it looks now. It’s shows them that the athletic department is behind them. I think the facilities are most important in recruiting. I think its played a huge role in helping us get some kids here.”
Over the last several years the athletic department and golf program have benefited from several facilities improvements including the opening of the Charles W. Doehler Center for Academic Excellence, the new varsity athletic training room, its first dedicated team locker room (alongside the other varsity programs) and the recent completion of a new varsity weight room.
Up next for both the women’s and men’s golf programs specifically will be the planned renovation of a brand new indoor golf facility, which will be housed in the old varsity weight room at the top of the Richie Regan Athletic Center next to the WSOU studios.
“The room upstairs is three to four times bigger. One of the best things for that right now is that it has natural light, it’s got windows, sunshine coming in for a huge indoor putting green.”
Both Doell and men’s coach Clay White are in discussions with a contractor for the room and have also made calls to coaches at other top programs for advise on their facilities.
Some possible improvements being targeted are...Tight Lies medium-length grass, a Track Man, which is a simulator that gives every stat possible on the shots being hit, a hitting stall and a SAM (Science & Motion) PuttLab.
Doell said the department hopes to have the room completed this upcoming winter when it will be most beneficial to both the men’s and women’s player. Doell and White are very excited for what this will mean to each of their programs moving forward.
“That’s going to be huge for us with recruiting,” she said of the new golf room’s effect, adding that the excitement level is also very high with her current athletes.”
Sara Doell looking FOREward to more success at Seton Hall.
By Zack Cziryak
Trove sports corespondent.
May 27, 2015
The Seton Hall women's golf program capped off the 2014-2015 season with its second straight BIG EAST Championship banner. That would be an impressive display of golf in any context, but it is more impressive considering the program has only been established a short five years.
“I’d say that I believed it could be this good but sure I’m pleasantly surprised that we did what we did,” Head Coach Sara Doell noted.
Doell put a portfolio together of yearly goals when she was interviewing for the coaching position. “One of the goals for our fifth year was to be top three in the Big East with a national ranking of 125 or better.”
Albeit in a reconstituted BIG EAST, the Pirates wrapped up back-to-back conference championships and consecutive bids to the NCAA regionals more than accomplishing Doell's initial goal. The team also won a total of four tournaments in 2015-16 and finished the current season ranked 124th nationally.
“I set goals and any goal that I thought we’d reach we’ve actually surpassed. To have as many academic All-Americans, wins and Big East all conference selections, well it’s nice to see your vision come to fruition.”
Doell’s vision is one that she mapped out five years ago when Seton Hall made the decision to begin a women’s golf program. Coming to South Orange from Penn State University after being an assistant coach at her Alma mater, the chance to build a program from scratch is one that she found irresistible.
“To me it was a chance to start something from the beginning without taking over someone else’s program. I had a vision of what I thought could be a successful program. That was the big draw for me taking this job, the chance to start something from scratch.”
The program Doell started has made a remarkable journey in her short time on the job culminating in her earning back-to-back BIG EAST Coach of the Year awards.
While the awards are certainly an honor for Doell, it is of secondary importance to the accolades earned by the team. The Seton Hall coach gives credit for winning the awards to her athletes and their performance at the conference championships.
“When you win the tournament that helps and I feel honored to have gotten it (the awards) twice in a row. It’s really important to me and makes you feel respected. But winning the BIG EAST this year means more than winning Coach of the Year. That honestly means more to me.”
The process of building the program from scratch has taken on many components for Doell, who added a spring home tournament to the schedule recently.
“We started hosting our home tournament a few years ago. I waited a few years and then I asked Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. They’ve done a really great job of accommodating us,” Doell said, adding that the Trump name has been an asset in raising the profile of the event.
“When we went to the regionals (in 2014) I had a couple of teams ask to play in our event. I had Georgia come and Yale and others. You start getting better teams interested in your events.”
Sara Doell and Ali Kruse
The Pirates’ recent success has also helped in adding to the program’s growing prestige. But next season for that to continue Doell will have have to deal with the daunting task of replacing both her number one and number two golfers Ali Kruse and Erin McClure, each lost to graduation.
“You look at the numbers. It’s a hard hit to lose the two of them. I really believe we have some young talent that’s going to step up. You’re kind of in that state of mourning but I know we’ll be fine next year. I think we have a strong chance to repeat.”
The depth and overall talent of this year’s team gives Doell confidence going into next year, particularly the play of Cassie Pantelas, who became first freshman in the program’s young history to win a tournament, as well as the play of other returning players such as Karlie Zabrosky.
“It was a mix of a lot of things,” Doell said of the team’s performance this year. “It was to a degree pure talent. We replaced Hannah (Basalone) with Cassie and Cassie performed well. She was the first freshman to ever win a tournament and it just added to the team's confidence.”
“Karlie actually led us in the fall,” she added. “I feel we had more depth, character confidence, everything. Then you add what I think is the most important piece team chemistry and you have the results you're looking for. It’s an individual sport that you mold into a team sport. I really believe that's why were able to have the season that we did. The girls really supported each other.”
The recent success of the program has made an impression on the recruiting trail for Doell, who hopes to use it to help bring young ladies into the program that will continue to help fill the Pirate trophy cases. Doell’s recruiting pitch has evolved from asking recruits to come help start a winning program to now continuing a winning tradition and further moving the program up the rung of the collegiate ladder.
“Right from the beginning when you’re starting a program you use the first couple of years stressing the excitement of the newness of your program. Now that we’re through our five-year cycle we’re on this path of success and we need to continue to stress recruiting to continue that success.
As with most sports at the Hall, the South Orange campus presents both advantages and disadvantages.
“I have to be realistic about how I recruit. We are a small, private, catholic university in New Jersey. We don’t have football or the large collegiate atmosphere that some people are looking for,” Doell said, admitting that recruits have turned her down for Seton Hall’s lack of a football experience.
“It takes a lot of work to succeed in that situation. The success of the program has helped. You win and get to go to regionals and have a selection party and the accompanying fame. I’ve definitely used that to help in our recruiting effort.”
The proximity of New York City and the internship opportunities it offers have also played a prominent role in Doell’s recruiting pitch as many of the young women she finds herself recruiting exhibit a strong interest in pursuing a business degree.
Support from the athletic department has come in various forms for Doell and the women’s golf program, allowing for her to build Seton Hall into an even more desirable destination for recruits. This support is of course headed by the recent and future renovations to the overall athletic department’s facilities.
“I think they’re most important for recruiting. I think a lot of that is really important because you can show them that four years ago this building (the Richie Regan Athletic Center) looked nothing like it looks now. It’s shows them that the athletic department is behind them. I think the facilities are most important in recruiting. I think its played a huge role in helping us get some kids here.”
Over the last several years the athletic department and golf program have benefited from several facilities improvements including the opening of the Charles W. Doehler Center for Academic Excellence, the new varsity athletic training room, its first dedicated team locker room (alongside the other varsity programs) and the recent completion of a new varsity weight room.
Up next for both the women’s and men’s golf programs specifically will be the planned renovation of a brand new indoor golf facility, which will be housed in the old varsity weight room at the top of the Richie Regan Athletic Center next to the WSOU studios.
“The room upstairs is three to four times bigger. One of the best things for that right now is that it has natural light, it’s got windows, sunshine coming in for a huge indoor putting green.”
Both Doell and men’s coach Clay White are in discussions with a contractor for the room and have also made calls to coaches at other top programs for advise on their facilities.
Some possible improvements being targeted are...Tight Lies medium-length grass, a Track Man, which is a simulator that gives every stat possible on the shots being hit, a hitting stall and a SAM (Science & Motion) PuttLab.
Doell said the department hopes to have the room completed this upcoming winter when it will be most beneficial to both the men’s and women’s player. Doell and White are very excited for what this will mean to each of their programs moving forward.
“That’s going to be huge for us with recruiting,” she said of the new golf room’s effect, adding that the excitement level is also very high with her current athletes.”
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