By By Jeffrey Preval

Golf is a tale of two worlds for Pride head coach Bob Schwalb, who saw his men’s and women’s golf teams travel in separate directions last weekend.

There is no comparison between the performance level of the men and women Pride golfers. The Pride men, who began their season last weekend in a three-day, 16-team Cornell Invitational tournament as a gutter team, were a major disappointment in the Colonial Athletic Association last season.

In 2003, the Pride ended the year in a downward spiral only winning its own tournament and for most of the season never shooting anywhere close to 310 as a team.

This year, the men who are looking to better themselves are comprised of five seniors, including Chris Spinks and Mike Ciccarelli, three freshman including Alex Lowenthal and one sophomore.

While at Cornell, the Pride had the appearance of a reloaded and an improving team, but instead, their performance was almost a repeat of last season as they picked up another loss and finished in last place.

At the end of the Cornell Invitational, the Pride finished 92 strokes off par with their best performance coming from Spinks.

Spinks shot a 79 in round one, a 75 in round two and a 78 in the final round, for a 232 total to finish 46th overall.

Meanwhile, Pride assistant head coach Jack Sims thought the tournament was good competition with a lot of Ivy League schools, but also believes the men have to get better being more competitive with our practicing.

Meanwhile, the Pride women traveled to face Middlebury and Williams College in the Williams Lady EPH Golf Invitational in Williamstown, Mass.

The Pride finished in second place beating Williams by 47 strokes, but falling to Middlebury by 61. The women had the opportunity to play on Williams famous golf course, established in 1896.

Schwalb, who hoped the Pride entered the preseason competing, performing well and not frustrated, has began to heavily rely upon top freshman recruit Caitlin Munroe to carry the Pride.

Schwalb said Munroe “played up to my expectations and is the real deal” was supported by Munroe first round 78 and a total of 163.

In the next coming weeks, the women will officially start their season on Oct. 7 against Central Connecticut State, before heading to Lehigh University for a two day tournament. Meanwhile, the men will be out of commission until their three-day date with Lehigh.