Falcons aim for second strong year — this time without Jin

The small team hopes to beat Mountain View during their first match against Mountain View.

Head Coach: Dave Gragnola

2018-2019 record: 7-3

2018-2019 recap: The team had a successful season after having a good performance at CCS. The team was just short of qualifying for states.

Key Matchups: Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Lynbrook

Star Players: senior Alice Lin, junior Jane Loo, sophomore Savannah Lin

Key Losses to Graduation: Janelle Jin

League: De Anza Division

Prognosis:

After a successful season that ended with a seventh place standing at Laguna Seca Golf Course in round one of CCS, the 2019 team hopes to start their season with a win during their upcoming match on Sept. 9. The Falcons will compete against Mountain View, who is new to the upper De Anza Division after winning the lower league and moving up.

This season, the Falcons’ biggest challenge will be learning to play without their previous No. 1 player and captain, Janelle Jin. After leading the team to CCS her senior year and individually qualifying for leagues and CCS during the four years of her high school golf career, Jin is continuing her golf career at Amherst University.

Stepping up into the position of No. 1 is senior Alice Lin, who looks forward to the season with her team and hopes they can at least make it to league finals this season. To achieve this, junior player Jane Loo said the team “is excited to push themselves to play better so they can fill the hole Janelle left.”

At practice, the team, led by head coach Dave Gragnola, is strategically working at the range to avoid the fall heat. Rather than being out on the course, the team is practicing chipping and bunker shots.

During this time, the team has started to develop a stronger bond with each other. Lin, who is one of the team’s travel players (top six), said that “the travel players are all pretty close with each other, but the newcomers still pretty quiet.” Loo added that although golf isn’t a regular team sport, the bond between players helps the competitive spirit of the team.

With Alice Lin at No.1, Savannah Lin at No. 2, and Jane Loo at No. 3, the Falcons look to fill the high expectations by collectively filling Jin’s big shoes.