By Ken Morse, Citizen’s News
NAUGATUCK — With a mostly young and inexperienced team, Naugatuck golf coach Peter Kovalski isn’t measuring success this season by wins and losses.
“I really can’t compare our season by wins and losses since most of these guys started playing just six weeks ago,” Kovalski said. “So, we are seeing continued progress week by week, and only have one player, our senior Ryan Hunt, as the only one with varsity experience.”
Naugatuck dropped matches against Wolcott, 217-239, on April 26, Woodland, 232-236, on April 27 and St. Paul, 177-225, on April 28 to fall to 0-5.
The record is not indicative of the effort or improvement the Greyhounds have shown this season.
“What I like is the guys’ enthusiasm,” Kovalski said. “Whether it’s practice or a match they go right out and play another round. They are working hard to get better and that is how you measure the success of the season.”
Kovalski added, “We are seeing improvement week by week, and against St. Paul we had three guys break into the 50s.”
Hunt led the way against St. Paul and shot a 52 at Hop Brook. Logan McKinney was right behind him with a 54. Ethan Vicente finished with a 59 and Vin Ferrucci shot a 60.
Hunt earned medalist honors against Wolcott, shooting a 55 at Hop Brook. Luke Deitelbaum and McKinney shot rounds of 56. Ferrucci finished with a round of 62.
Hunt again was the medalist in the Woodland match, this time shooting a 47 at Oxford Greens. Ferrucci shot a 62, McKinney finished with a 63 and Vicente shot a 66.
“We do have a young team and will be losing not only Hunt to graduation but sophomore Benjamin Papp will be moving,” Kovalski said. “Ben has been developing into a fine player for us. He has a great attitude and is a super teammate.”
The Greyhounds are scheduled to play Seymour on May 3 before a rematch with St. Paul on May 6.
Heading into the latter half of the season, Kovalski is looking for the Greyhounds to continue improving.
“It’s kind of hard to put realistic expectations on a group of players who only started playing six weeks ago,” he said. “Golf is the kind of game that it takes a lot of time and practice to develop a mastery, but they are putting in the work to get better.”
