Men’s golf ended the fall portion of its schedule on one of its lowest points of the year, but NIU hopes the young core will take the offseason to improve its play.

NIU finished last week’s Pinetree Intercollegiate tying its worst total of the season, 976 (330-321-325). The fact that five of NIU’s seven golfers are new to the program is something to take into consideration.

“The goal is always to win, but when you are playing the bulk of your lineup as true freshmen, you may have to adjust the goal a little bit,” said head coach Tom Porten. “For our four freshmen and Liam [White] it was really about learning the college game and trying to catch up to the speed of the game and the demand of the game.”

Porten felt the Huskies had good tournaments to start off the season and NIU made some steps in the right direction during the four-tournament stretch prior to the Pinetree Intercollegiate. The best rounds of the season for the Huskies happened at the Badger Invitational in late September. NIU’s 302 and 305 were season lows to go along with the tournament season low of 923.

“Through Erin Hills I thought we saw tangible games in all of the key areas for your program to rise to the top. We improved various statistical categories,” Porten said. “We drove it better, we hit the ball on the fairway more often as we moved through the fall season, we got the ball onto the green at a higher percentage rate then we did earlier in the fall, and we were making some games with our putters up until that last tournament.”

The Huskies did have two returning golfers who competed during the season. Senior Shawn Foley had a rocky start to the season at the Northern Intercollegiate with a 261 (79-98-84). Foley had his best outing when he received his season-low total in his home state of Wisconsin during the Erin Hills Intercollegiate (80-80-77=237).

The other returner was Nick Huggins. Huggins had NIU’s top finish during the fall when he tied for 33rd, shooting a then-team-best 73 for a round and totaling a 226 overall during the Huskies’ trip to the Badger Invitational. That marked Huggins’ final tournament of the fall and the rest of the year, as he could no longer compete due to a nagging hip injury.

“… Weeks prior to that we knew it was going to be his last event,” White said. “It was one of those things that we had seen it coming for a long time, but it definitely made it easier to grow into it. It definitely hurt, but it was good for the six men or five men in the long run to get that experience.”

White stepped in at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate Oct. 6 to 8 and almost beat Huggins’ best finish of 33rd when he tied for 38th during the competition. White’s Erin Hills totals of 224 (75-74-75) beat out Huggins by two strokes as the lowest card by any Huskie during the fall.

One golfer who Porten felt may improve the most during winter break is freshman Pierrick Fillon. Fillon was the top NIU finisher during the Wolf Run Intercollegiate Sept. 21 to 22, totaling 236 (82-79-75).

“We like him a lot, he works very hard, he is very smart, but his short game is what kind of held him back from being consistent,” Porten said. “His short game was very good at Wolf Run, it was OK at the Badger, and then it started moving away. He really struggled at Erin Hills with it and again at the Pinetree. Unfortunately, he could not handle the severity of those greens, but he is going to bounce back very strong in the spring. I think he will make the biggest jump between now and when we go to Arizona in February because he has such a great work ethic.”