Grosse Pointe Woods

North golf has big goals

By Mark Vest
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Deb Jacques Grosse Pointe North senior golf captains, from left, Jenna Paglino, Ali Scoggin and Paige Micks have led the Norsemen to a MAC White title. Photo by Deb Jacques Grosse Pointe North senior golf captains, from left, Jenna Paglino, Ali Scoggin and Paige Micks have led the Norsemen to a MAC White title.

What a difference a year has made for the Grosse Pointe North girls golf team.

Last season, the Norsemen finished in the bottom of their division and didn’t win a single league match.

This season, North has already won a Macomb Area Conference White Division title, and at press time is undefeated with an overall record of 7-0.

And although not winning a league match for an entire season may not seem too appealing, North coach Brian Stackpoole believes that his team’s rough 2011 regular season may have actually benefited his team.

Last season, North was in the tough MAC Red. Stackpoole believes that facing that kind of competition on a regular basis may have helped North when it came time to compete in postseason play, as the squad went on to finish in fourth place at regionals, just one spot shy of having the opportunity to compete at the state finals.

Stackpoole is pleased that his team has been able to parlay last season’s strong postseason play into a MAC White title.

“We kind of knew last year we were going to be in a position to do some special things if we came back and had the right attitude,” he said. “The girls put in the time in the summer to get ready for the season, and they were able to do that. I’m really happy with the way the kids have worked so hard.”

Stackpoole believes that the play the team has gotten from its three senior captains, Paige Micks, Jenna Paglino and Ali Scoggin, has gone a long way toward helping the Norsemen lay claim to a MAC White title.

“They’ve really led the way for us this year,” Stackpooole said. “They’re playing better than they did last year, and (we) had a couple of the juniors step up. Our top five girls have really played well, and the rest of the team’s always battling to be in the sixth spot, so it’s the constant competition that’s really helped us.”

Although winning a league championship accomplishes one of North’s goals, Stackpoole hopes that even bigger and better things await the Norsemen.

While finishing in fourth at regionals last year may have represented a nice rebound from the regular season, it was still just a little bit short of where Stackpoole wants his team to be.

“Our biggest goal is to finish in the top three at regionals (and) make it to states,” he said. “That’s our main goal. Everything else is great … but we got to do a little bit better. Just because you have a good 9-hole season doesn’t guarantee anything. We still have a lot to play for coming up. Everything we do is to get ready for the regionals and make it to the state finals.”

Stackpoole is well aware of the caliber of teams North will have to overcome in order to realize its goals.

“It’ll be really competitive,” he said. “We’re in Division 2. We’re going to be against the Birmingham schools, Bloomfield Hills schools (and Highland) Milford, which is an excellent team this year. It’s going to be a fight for us.”

North is scheduled to be in action at regionals Oct. 10 at the Pontiac Country Club.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mark Vest at mvest@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1112. Follow Mark on Twitter.