ON THE GREEN : HIGH SCHOOL PREVIEW : Return Engagement : University Will Be the Team to Beat in Girls’ Golf Again This Season

You have to wonder what the University High girls’ golf team has planned as a follow-up act.

Last season, the Trojans set the girls’ golf standard, going 18-0 in the regular season, winning the Pacific Coast League title, then the inaugural Southern Section team title.

With the top three players returning from that team and expectations running high, even the Trojans themselves are thrown for a loop when asked what they plan for an encore.

“How do you improve on that?” asked Michelle Barth, a junior. “Last year, we went as far as we could go. I guess the only thing we can do this year is to try and duplicate it.”

The consensus opinion--a discouraging one for opposing teams--is that the Trojans will duplicate it.

With Barth, sophomore Angela Won and junior Sunny Lee leading the way, University is an overwhelming favorite to repeat as Southern Section champion.

Any of the three would be a legitimate No. 1 player at most schools. They all qualified for the Southern Section individual tournament, making University the only county school with three representatives.

All three return to the Trojans with improved games after playing extensive and successful summer schedules.

Won, The Times Orange County player of the year, won eight tournaments this summer. Lee also won eight, and Barth has improved by three to four shots.

“I’m sure we’re going to be better,” Lee said. “We’re all better players, so we have to be a better team.”

Because of that, opposing coaches are ready to hand all the hardware to the Trojans.

“Nobody’s going to be competing with Uni,” Woodbridge Coach Tracy Roberts said. “Everyone else is pretty much playing for second place.”

University Coach Patti Anduri is not convinced.

“We really enjoyed last year, but it’s going to be hard to duplicate,” Anduri said. “We don’t know if the other teams got some quality freshmen. Girls’ golf has taken off so fast and is getting better so fast that it’s too hard to keep up with it.”

Last year, University was the mystery.

The Trojans, despite having three of the county’s best players and consistently beating opponents by 20 to 30 strokes, quietly put together their impressive season and managed to steer clear of the spotlight.

“Just the way we wanted it,” Anduri said.

This year, that won’t be easy.

“We know that the CIF championship team is the team to beat,” she said. “And when you are at the top, there is only one direction to go.”

Won realizes the spotlight will be on the Trojans but realizes that is what comes with success.

“I would rather play good,” she said. “I don’t like to play bad golf.”

While a repeat would be nice, the players hope defending their title doesn’t get in the way of the fun they had last year.

“I’m hoping that it’s not just about competition,” Lee said. “We had a lot of fun last year. We were friendly with our rival teams. There was a lot of hugging out there.”

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Villa Park appears to be University’s biggest threat. Sophomore Priscilla Park transferred from Foothill, and along with Shelly Raworth, the Spartans have a twosome to rival University’s top two. If a third emerges, look for Villa Park to contend.

Marina has three of its top four players returning, including all-county selection Courtney Goebel. The Vikings won the Sunset League and finished fifth in the Southern Section last year.

Santa Margarita, led by Sea View League champion Meghan Mulhapt and junior Brenda Progar, also has a solid top two. Both had excellent regular seasons but ran into problems in the postseason. Coach Tim O’Hara, who has coached the Eagles’ boys’ team for five years and enters his first with the girls, has scheduled matches with University and Villa Park to open the season.

Rosary, runner-up to University in the section championships last year, must replace Golden West League champion Romina Bollini and hope Maggie Barnett can return from a knee injury. Barnett, also one of the top basketball players in the county, had knee surgery last month.