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West Liberty Golf Team Off to Perfect Start

WLU Photo The West Liberty University golf team is off to a perfect start to the season.

WEST LIBERTY — To say the West Liberty men’s golf team is off to a good start could be an understatement. In fact, one could say the Hilltoppers are off to a perfect start to the fall.

Coach Mike Ricci’s team has played in three tournaments and have captured all three titles. The Hilltoppers got their first tournament victory as they claimed the Vulcan invitational on Sept. 6, followed by an impressive showing at the Glade Springs Invitational on Sept. 13. West Liberty’s most recent success was at the Hal Hansen Invitational on Sept. 19.

“This is way beyond my expectations,” Ricci said. “I’ve been coaching for nine years at West Liberty and at the beginning of my tenure, if you finished second, third or fourth, you had a pretty good tournament. I think in my tenure, we have won four tournaments prior to this year. We’ve already won three. If you win one or two, that’s a pretty good year. There’s a lot of competition in our conference and there’s a lot of competition in our region, especially.”

The Hilltoppers are on a four-tournament winning streak during the regular season. Going back to the spring, West Liberty earned a victory at the Cecil Spadafora Invitational in Indiana, Pa., during a three-team sudden death playoff.

After the victory, the Hilltoppers went on to compete in the regional tournament. It was the third straight year the Hilltoppers qualified for the tournament.

“I think every year for the last three years, we have gone up in the rankings as far as the region went,” Ricci said.

The Hilltoppers roster includes eight players with senior Matt Iceton being a household name since the day he stepped foot on the Hilltop. Some of his accomplishments are Mountain East Conference Player of the Year, MEC Player of the Year,  First Team All-Conference, and First Team All-Region for two years.

“He was just really good when he got here,” Ricci said about Iceton. “He started to throw his weight around in the conference as soon as he got here. He didn’t have to get better, but he’s gotten better.”

Also making some noise is junior Cory Hoshor. He was named MEC Player of the Week on Sept. 21 a week after the honor was given to Iceton.

“Cory is another one that has been all-conference for two years now and he was also on the all-region team last year,” Ricci said. “Cory is real steady.”

Juniors Joey Cilone and Michael Rogers have been putting in the time over the summer to get their team within striking distance of a MEC Championship. With their playing time being pretty sparse last year, there was not a day in the summer that there was not a club in their hands.

“I know Joey played every day this summer and he played in a lot of tournaments and won several events,” Ricci said. “Mike did the same thing. They came in hungry and those are the kind of guys that aren’t going to dazzle you by hitting the ball into the next county. They are going to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and are going to knock it on the green. They’re going to putt for par and make a few birdies and stick the sword in your heart. That’s what they do. Those two have been the two surprises for us.”

What’s even more impressive for the Hilltoppers is they won two tournaments with two different lineups because of the depth of their roster.

In the Hilltoppers’ first two matches of the season, they used Iceton, Hoshor, Cilone, Rogers and senior Tanner Stoffer. In the most recent outing, freshman Sean Trapp replaced Stoffer.

Ike Judy, a junior is also on the West Liberty roster.

“There’s a lot of depth on this team,” Ricci said. “I mean there are kids that are staying home that can play for just about anybody in the conference and be really, really good.”

It’s true. During the Hal Hansen Invitational, freshman and Wheeling Park graduate Freddie Fitzsimmons traveled along with the group, but played as an individual. On the first day, he shot a 73, which set him in fifth place. On the second day, he shot a 80, but still posted a Top 20 finish.

Trapp, the other freshmen stumbled a bit on the opening day turning in a 84, but turned it around on Day 2 shooting a 72 which was a key ingredient to the victory in DuBois, Pa. The Hilltoppers were even down by seven strokes after the first day and were in fourth place.

There are two invitationals left on the fall schedule; the MEC Fall Invitational and the MEC Championship.

The preseason rankings had West Liberty ranked third in the conference. According to Ricci, that gave his team motivation to go out there and prove the doubters wrong. In the conference championship last fall, the Hilltoppers finished third. The last time West Liberty won a conference title was in 1976, which is in its 40th anniversary this year. Prior to that, the last one was in 1971, a team that Ricci was on.

“We have the same goals every year. We want to win a conference championship,” Ricci said. “Our goal was to always win one and get to the regional and see what happens after that. When you get to the regional, you are playing against some really, really good golf teams.”

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