The message from head coach Jim Hamilton to his University of Evansville men's golf team is direct: UE's goal should be a top four finish in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship in April. The Purple Aces open the spring season March 8 at the Samford University Intercollegiate, at Limestone Springs Golf Club in Oneonta, Alabama, the first of five tournaments leading up to the MVC Championship.

At first glance, the challenge from Coach Hamilton looks awfully strong. After all, Evansville has finished fourth or better just once in its 15 years in the MVC, in 2002 with a third place finish in the annual nine-team field. But the last two years show that UE has come within a whisker of consecutive top four finishes. In 2008, with a team score of 899, the Aces finished fifth out of nine and just one stroke out of fourth place. Last year, at 933, they finished sixth, but just four strokes out of fourth.

"This team has the opportunity to be pretty good this spring," Hamilton says. "If they finish outside the top four in the conference, they should be disappointed."

Hamilton's confidence stems from a strong finish last fall, when Evansville ended the season with a sixth place finish in the 17-team Dayton Flyer Invitational. Michael Sainz shot 69 in the first round at Dayton, and was one of six golfers who averaged between 74 and 77 in the fall. Sophomore Griffin Wood was number one at 74.73, including a 10th place finish at the 70-player Spartan Invitational. Senior Christian Poling averaged 75.25, Sainz was at 75.55, and Andrew Luo, Neal Millay and Logan Osborne all came in below 77. After the tourney at Samford, Evansville plays at the Butler Invitational in Indianapolis, the Cardinal Collegiate at Sultan's Run in Jasper, the Hoosier Invitational in Bloomington, and the Big Blue Intercollegiate in Columbia, Tenn. prior to the April 26-27 State Farm MVC Tournament at Hutchinson, Kansas.