General | 3/3/2015 12:00:00 AM
During the 2014-15 athletic season, the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary as an active NCAA Division II conference. As part of this year-long celebration, CACCAthletics.org is conducting a Retrospective Series featuring each of the league's 14 member schools. During the months of February and March, each school will have its own day on the CACC website, as a student-athlete, team, and top moment from the last 10 years will be recognized by the conference. Each school's athletic administration determined the top student-athlete, team and moment for the retrospective.
The men's golf program at Goldey-Beacom College had enjoyed a tremendous amount of success early on after transitioning from NAIA to the NCAA Division II ranks.
From 2002-05, the program had won three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Championships and reached the NCAA Regional for the first time in program history in 2005.
With conference titles and a regional appearance in hand, the program wanted to take the next step of reaching the NCAA Championship during the 2005-06 season.
It is one thing for a program to set lofty goals, but it is another to put in the time and dedication to reach those measures. The Lightning were more than up to the challenge.
The Lightning opened the year by producing four top-five finishes, including a victory at the Wilmington Fall Classic in late October to cap the fall schedule. Goldey-Beacom shot 625 to win the tournament and finish 68 shots ahead of second-place Nyack College. Michael Tobiason and Steven Cutler finished first and second, respectively, with two-round scores of 149 (+7) and 151 (+9).
The win served as a springboard for the spring slate. At Frog Hollow Golf Course in the Wilmington Spring Classic, G-B finished second on the strength on a trio of top-seven finishes from Tobiason, Cutler and Nick Nardo.
Goldey-Beacom captured the first of its two team titles a couple weeks later at the Peter King Memorial Tournament, edging Pace by a shot. Tobiason led wire-to-wire with a pair of 74s to earn medalist honors.
The Lightning the following week went in search of their fourth-consecutive CACC crown at the conference championship, but came up just short by three strokes to Post. Goldey-Beacom did not leave without some hardware as both Tobiason and Cutler shot 144s (both with a 73 in the first round and 71 in the second) to earn co-medalist honors and win a share of the CACC Player-of-the-Year award.
The team was now set for another shot at the NCAA Regionals.
With the experience gained from the previous year's run to the regional and following the success of the recently completed regular season, Goldey-Beacom stormed into the NCAA competition and ultimately reached the destination it had set for itself prior to the campaign.
The Lightning dominated the regional and won by 24 shots over the nearest competitor. The team's 928 (+76) was aided by the amazing play of Tobiason, who captured medalist honors with a three-day total of 221 (+8) that included a three-under-par 68 in the final round. All five Lightning golfers placed among the top-20 in the individual standings, including Mark Agnew (5th, 234), Cutler (T12th, 238), Justin Grossman (T16th, 240) and Nardo (T19th, 241).
The team was off to the NCAA Championship, marking the first program in CACC history to accomplish the feat in golf. Goldey-Beacom ultimately finished in 20th place and the CACC brand had made its mark on the national scene with this impressive showing.
Tobiason ended the season with a team-best 74.83 stroke average with five tournament wins that included an impressive 3.63 average over par. Cutler was next with a 77.4 average and a 6.2 average over par.
The Lightning had set lofty goals and met those goals by the end of the year. The team's performance at the regional and national level helped the CACC gain traction as the league was venturing into its early days as an active conference at the Division II level. The school and conference proved nationally competitive programs could make a home in the CACC.
