Amity’s dreams of an undefeated golf season were swept away last week. After running off seven wins in a row, the Spartans were edged by Wolcott 154-155 and then thumped 155-165 by Xavier. On the other side of the ledger, Coach George Taylor’s boys offset the loss to Wolcott’s still undefeated Eagles (8-0), by pasting Southern Connecticut Conference Housatonic Division rival, Lyman Hall 155-205 in a tri-match at the Country Club of Woodbridge. The Spartans’ Brent Marieb shot a medalist round of 36. He was backed up by Kyle Barone (38), Alex Marieb (40), and Aaron Uscilla.
According to Taylor, “Lyman Hall isn’t very strong but we shot excellent scores. No one shot poorly for our team. A team score of 155 is a very good score on our home course. Wolcott also has a good team and shot just a little better than we did. They shot 2 37’s, a 39, and a 41. It’s not too shabby when your worst score is a 41. On top of that, only one of their kids had ever played our course before. The bottom line is, we played well but they just outplayed us.”
There wasn’t too much Taylor could say about the 10 stroke loss to Xavier at the Portland Country Club. Led by Geoff Vartelas, who fired a medalist 37, the Falcons also recorded excellent scores from Tyler Ceste (38), Kyle Bushmsan (40), and Geoff DaVille (40). While The Falcons’ worst score was 40, Alex Marieb led the Spartans with the same tally. Brent Marieb, Keating Seymour, and Aaron Uscilla each came in with identical 41’s.
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“This was a disappointing match. Our scores weren’t very good. The course was difficult as it had a lot of blind shots. We made a number of mistakes because we didn’t know which club to use,” Taylor said. “On the one hand, this was a good win for Xavier. We didn’t play awful, not really well either. On the other hand, they really played well. I’d just as soon forget about this match!”
The Black and Gold completed the busy week on a high as they swept past SCC rivals Hand (154-161), East Haven (154-171), and Branford (154-172) at the Madison Country Club. These three wins upped the Spartans’ record to 10-2. The biggest win of the three was their seven stroke victory over previously undefeated Hand, in a match played on the Tigers’ home course.
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“This was a great day for us—clearly our highlight of the season. Hand was undefeated (7-0) and playing at home, but all four of our guys played very well and shot in the 30’s. You can’t ask for much more,” Taylor added. “We also couldn’t overlook East Haven or Branford. Both had decent teams that were capable of upsetting us.”
While Hand’s Brian Carlson carded a medalist 38, Amity offset that with a quartet of scores in the 30’s—Alex Marieb (37), Barone (39), Brent Marieb (39), and Uscilla (39).
