With New York City as a backdrop, the Binghamton golf team enters this weekend’s tournament in Bethpage, Long Island looking to continue their strong play, coming off of a monumental comeback to finish in seventh place last Saturday at Cornell.

Once again, there will be a very tough field of teams awaiting the Bearcats as they enter Friday’s rigorous 36-hole schedule. Among the 18 to 20 teams in the field are St. John’s, UConn, Hartford and Maryland.

“From our standpoint, it would be really nice to put up a good showing against these teams in our region and prove ourselves legitimate contenders,” said head coach Nick Lasky. “We played here last year and showed some success, finishing in the top 10. We just hope to build on that as we head into the tournament.”

The team’s confidence level is running high after last Saturday’s performance and they hope they can continue to carry this momentum heading into the weekend.

“We really showed the country what we could do as a team last Saturday,” Lasky said. “All the players feel good about themselves, their overall golf games, but perhaps most importantly, their teammates. All of the players feed off of each other, and when they are all playing well like we are at this moment, it becomes contagious and translates into positive performances at high pressure tournaments.”

Barring anymore crazy rain delays, the team is scheduled to play the traditional 36 holes on Friday, followed by 18 on Saturday. The course will play as a very long par 70, which will favor the longer hitters on the team. Seniors Jeff Wolniewicz and Aaron Ungvarsky, and junior Zach Vinal will most likely have an edge over sophomore J.J. Shearer and freshman Patrick Donovan simply because they played here last year; they know the makeup of the golf course and should be less likely to encounter any surprises.

Lasky is still holding his chin up about the possibilities for Shear and Donovan in this tournament.

“Each of these guys played Rutgers this year, both putting up stellar performances on golf courses new to them,” Lasky said. “Donovan was even par and J.J. was one over, proving that handling new pressure situations just comes naturally to them.”

Momentum and confidence are running high in the clubhouse as the Bearcats enter this weekend’s tournament at Bethpage. Can they build on last Saturday’s stellar performance, their excellent practices during the week and the strong positive words of encouragement from Coach Lasky? Lasky seems confident that they can.

“Practices this week were excellent, and everyone worked on different aspects of their swing where they can improve upon,” he said. “Each player has good and bad tendencies, and what we are trying to do at practice is to keep the good tendencies sharp and work on the bad ones. Of course, the ultimate goal of each player is to have a swing exemplifying that of Tiger Woods, and by working on the bad tendencies, each player continues to take a step forward in realizing their actual potential and achieving their goals.”