KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Laura Myerscough taps a long putt during the Wildcat Invitational earlier this year. Mysercough and the Wildcat golf team are preparing for the postseason as well as finals for class.

Head coach Allen hopes to lead women's golf to more postseason magic

When UA head coach Greg Allen left his job at Texas three seasons ago to head west to Tucson, nobody thought he could pick up a team that had just won a National Championship and actually make it better.

The 31-year old Boise State graduate has turned the program from great to amazing in three shorts years, and has been lucky enough to coach one of the greatest college players of all time, Lorena Ochoa.

"When I got the job, I took over (a program) that had won nine out of 11 tournaments, along with the national championship," Allen said. "So I wasn't filling big shoes, they were huge. Luckily, the team came out and won six tournaments and I had the opportunity to coach Lorena. People look at the program and credit the success to me, but it's because of the players."

This year, Allen's squad came out like they had finished the year before, winning the NCAA Fall Preview and slowly clawing its way up to the top-ranked program in the nation.

Allen has been stressing to his team to peak at the right time, and with the Regional Tournament kicking off next week, the team knows that time is now.

"(The team) feels comfortable about playing in the east region," Allen said. "Vanderbilt is the only team in the bracket that has beaten us this year, and even having the toughest bracket, we're confident about what we can do."

Out of 27 teams, the top eight continue on to compete for the National Championship, but the women are focusing on winning next week at Wake Forest.

The only distraction the team has as it prepares is the fact that final exams fall the same week as the Regional Tournament, giving added pressure to an already stressful week.

With everything coming together at the same time, Allen said he tries to make the week as normal as possible.

"We're doing the same thing we always do," Allen said. "We've tried to be as flexible as possible because this is the most stressful time for the team academically. We want (the team) to get all their schoolwork done so we can leave Tucson without stress from school."

Schoolwork isn't the only thing freshman Erica Blasberg has on her agenda in the next few weeks.

"It's going to be very stressful," she said. "Finals are right after Regionals and then I have a practice round for U.S. Open qualifying the day we get back, and then qualifying is the next day. It's going to be demanding because I have no breaks at all."

Seniors Anna Lee and Laura Mysercough are headed to their final two tournaments, and both have postseason tournament experience that will help calm the younger players.

With the two seniors helping balance the rather youthful lineup, Arizona will be the team to beat in North Carolina next week.

"Everybody is working really hard," Blasberg said. "The whole team is confident going into Regionals and Nationals, and we're really excited about these next two weeks."

The team can look back at a year with a lot to brag about, but as Allen said, it would trade all its wins in for a shot at the National Championship.

"You want to win every golf tournament you play in," he said. "But we hope to pick the important ones to really peak at."

The Wildcats will get their shot to do so in a week, when they will tee it up as the second seed in the East Region at Salem Glen Country Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.