James Frehner ’24 putts for par on hole 2 at LaGrange Country Club on Sept. 12 (Klos/LION).

After a strong start to the season, LT’s boy’s golf team has goals of excelling through the state tournament, Varsity Head Coach Brian Kopecky said. The team is returning strong this year after winning all but one dual match this far.

“Three goals I have for them is to have fun, to play with class, meaning to be one of the guys their opponents want to play with, and to compete with the best in the state, meaning to get to the state finals,” Kopecky said. 

The team plans on doing everything they can to compete at state. 

This year, the team has many strong players who have potential for competing at the state championship. It still will be challenging for the team, considering LT is in the most competitive sectional in Illinois. Something that they believe could take them to that next level is to play with more consistency throughout the season, which can be difficult.

“We have to have four guys play exceptionally well, because the sectional is so tough,” Kopecky said. “We’re capable of doing it because they’ve shown the ability to shoot low scores.” 

Overall, there is a good dynamic on the team, and the boys push each other to get better. The loss of seniors from the 2022 season hasn’t affected the team dramatically, which benefits them greatly. There’s a lot of strong returning players this year, JV Coach Bryan Aloisio said.

Aloisio is new to coaching the team this year and is excited to see the outcome of the season. Although he coaches the JV level and doesn’t spend a lot of time with varsity, many of the higher level players have noticed the positive energy Aloisio has brought to the team. 

“He seems really into it and excited to be coaching,” varsity player Anderson Palm ‘25 said.

 This positive energy will motivate the team on their journey to state.

Earlier this season, the team beat Glenbard West by four points and York by three points in their matches against them, both of which are in LT’s conference. This is a good sign and shows that LT is definitely in the ballpark to compete at state.  

“I think we have the ability to succeed in our goal of making state since there’s so much depth to the team,” Palm said. “We’ve been working really hard to get to where we want to be.”

Ultimately, whether or not the boys make state will depend on how well they play under pressure.

“You gotta show up when the lights are on,” Kopecky said. “When the lights get brighter you gotta shine and if you don’t, you’re gonna get beat.”