If the women's golf team realizes its goals for the upcoming spring season, President George W. Bush might see a few familiar faces hanging around the White House in September.
The 2002 NCAA Champion Blue Devils met and were honored by Bush this fall in a ceremony at the White House dedicated to Duke and nine other NCAA champion teams. Of course the Blue Devils hope to repeat the supremacy they exhibited last year, but Duke has a long season before a second trip to the nation's capital is possible.
Last season's championship run was an example of constant superiority for the Blue Devils, as Duke's squad won every tournament in which it competed. But the season was not without drama, as the NCAA Championship saw the Blue Devils behind Arizona for all but several holes in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, these were the holes that mattered. Duke made up nine strokes on the faltering women of Arizona in the final round's last four holes, and head coach Dan Brooks' unit took its second national title since 1999 back to Durham.
The Blue Devil squad that hits the links this year will be similar, but not identical, to last year's powerhouse. The team returns all but one of last year's group: 2001 NCAA Individual Champion Candy Hannemann, who had acted as the catalyst for last year's come-from-behind victory. Hannemann's spot will be filled by the Blue Devils' newest member, freshman Elizabeth Janangelo, a Connecticut native and 2001 Golfweek High School Player of the Year.
"I don't think the dynamic has changed from last year," senior Kristina Engstrom said. "Obviously Candy was great, but Liz is a strong player who brings a lot to the team."
The team returns last year's individual winner, Virada "Oui" Nirapathpongporn, a junior from Bangkok, Thailand. Seniors Engstrom and Maria Garcia-Estrada join juniors Nirapathpongporn and Leigh Anne Hardin along with sophomore Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh to form the nucleus of the defending champs.
In its quest to repeat, the team is not letting the minor details slide as they prepare to start the season.
"Of course we'll always want to achieve the goal of winning a national championship," Engstrom said. "We are trying to achieve smaller, process-oriented goals in the service of that one, larger goal."
The Blue Devils enter the spring season coming off of a fall schedule that saw them win the Tar Heel Invitational and take second and fourth respectively in the ACC/SEC Challenge and the NCAA Fall Preview. Janangelo exhibited some freshman heroics in the fall, taking the individual title at the Tar Heel Invitational and blazing a course-record 67 at the ACC/SEC Challenge.
In the winter off-season, the Blue Devils were working on making themselves ready for the repeat effort.
"We've been working really hard on physical fitness and improving our swings," Janangelo said.
The Blue Devils will begin where they left off last season: Catching up to Arizona. The Wildcats are ranked first in the GolfWeek coaches' poll; the Blue Devils are No. 2.
The Duke spring schedule begins at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic on February 28th, then heads north for several matches in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The season will culminate at the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind., in early May.
"The team is looking to repeat, and we're certainly capable," Janangelo said. "We have the talent, and if we can all play strongly, we'll do well."
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