By: David Gurney
For Monroe Township High School golf coach Pete LoPresti, there was a price to pay for last year’s success gone are many of the senior leaders that helped propel the squad to a 14-4 mark.
Now comes the hard part for LoPresti and company rebuilding.
But the talent pool isn’t empty, with several players back and primed to curtail the rebuilding process heading into Monday’s season-opener versus Woodbridge at Tamarack Golf Club.
"We’ve graduated a few starters and I’d say we’re in a rebuilding mode," LoPresti said. "We lost some solid scorers, and we were a pretty consistent team last year. But we have some players back, the question is how we perform two-through-five in our lineup."
There are several returnees from last year’s squad, which finished second in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s White Division and seventh in the GMCT.
Perhaps the most accomplished of those is Sean Lawrence, only a sophomore but fresh off a phenomenal freshman campaign that saw him continuously post some of the highest marks throughout the campaign.
"Sean Lawrence did some real good things the second half of the season," LoPresti said. "He’ll probably be the number one. He might have an edge right now over everyone else."
Seniors Evan Jones and Bryan Zimmer have each looked solid in the preseason, impressing LoPresti and giving hope that the team can find a consistent pair in the middle of the lineup.
"The team’s consistency through the rest of the lineup is huge, because Lawrence can get all the 40’s and 41’s he can, but if we’re not backing him up with something solid we’re in for a long season," LoPresti said. "Evan Jones and Bryan Zimmer are capable of some big things this season. We just need consistency from them."
Rounding out the main contributors are senior Greg Moyes, sophomore Ryan Kloby, junior Sean O’Conner, and Brian Blank. LoPresti sees talent in the bunch, but is unsure how they’ll react to GMC competition and the stress that comes with it.
"Moyes and Kloby are golfers, but the question is how they’ll do in a competitive match," LoPresti said. "Brian Blank got in a few matches last year and is working his way up. We’re hoping to get more consistent, and hopefully the scores we’re throwing out aren’t 58’s, they’re lower scores."
LoPresti, entering his sixth season as coach, has had to adapt to an entirely new make-up to the team, drastically different than any of the five teams he has coached prior.
"This team is a lot different," LoPresti said. "The five previous seasons we had some depth and, actually, the 2002 through 2005 seasons, had real strength at the one spot.
"We were deep and able to rotate some players. We’re going to have to find that depth in the lineup this year."
The key for the Falcons this season?
Gradual improvement amongst the newcomers and gaining a team identity.
"We’re in a situation where, as trivial as it sounds, we have to take it one match at a time," LoPresti said. "Ultimately, we want to compete. We have to develop an identity first. And we just have to take it one step at a time, go from there."

