Middletown, Pa. – The Penn State Harrisburg golf team is hoping to continue their impressive seven year streak of finishing first or second place in their conference championship tournament. Last year the Capital Athletic Conference reached the seven team mark which allows the CAC to start the process of securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the conference championship team, beginning in 2016.
The Blue and White have their freshman star Tyler Shank (Levitown, Pa. / Neshaminy) coming back for his second season. Tyler won the Athlete of the Year Award for PSU-Harrisburg and was named 1st Team All CAC and was named freshmen of the Year in the CAC due to his second place finish at the CAC championships. Also returning this year is Matt "Smash" Hoare (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) and Corey Jackson (Levitown, Pa. / Neshaminy) both players who gained valuable experience in the starting lineup last season.
Key newcomers include Tyler Massar (Lebanon, Pa Cedar Crest High School) who is a transfer from PSU-Berks where he played the last 2 seasons. Chris Spittle (Tower City, Pa Williams Valley High School) is also a transfer with collegiate experience; both players will be a nice addition to the Lions roster.
Also new to Harrisburg are Freshmen Keith Miller (Pittsburgh, Pa Thomas Jefferson High School) & Collin Hagenbuch (Easton, Pa Wilson Area High School). Both are expected to contribute to the team right away.
Second year head coach Mike Banzhoff is ready to compete this season. "Every event we play in this year we will be an underdog which is okay because we will face some of the best DIII teams in the region. The difficulty will come because most of the players haven't seen the courses we'll play; whereas other teams have been going to these events year after year."