Head women's golf coach Tom O'Connor hopes that this season - his seventh with the Saints - proves that the number seven indeed brings some good luck.

The Saints will field one of the youngest teams that O'Connor has had in his seven seasons, without a single senior and five freshmen on the 10-player roster. Still, O'Connor is very optimistic about his 2009-10 team and thinks it could be his best.

"We have a lot of young players but all of them are very focused on what they need to do to become better golfers," says O'Connor. "They work hard in practice and they played a lot this past summer. I think that our team's attitude is very good and that the young ladies are ready to have a very good season."

Despite its youth, the team is not totally without any experience.

Four juniors are on the squad, led by Vicky McGowan who took over the No. 1 slot as a sophomore and has shown great improvement as she enters her third year of collegiate golf.

"Vicky is a tough competitor," says O'Connor. "Nobody works harder on their game than her and she has really accepted the role as the leader of our team."

McGowan was the lone USF player to average under 90 strokes per round a year ago, with an average of 84.0 in eight fall rounds and 88.6 in six spring tournaments.

The other three juniors are Ariel Jagmin - who like McGowan hails from Lincoln-Way East H.S. in Frankfort - Liz Eldridge (Wheaton St. Francis H.S.) and Lindsey Karlson (Lincoln-Way Central). All three have played in a significant number of tournaments in their first two years at USF and will compete for playing time this year with the talented newcomers joining the Saints' roster.

A welcome addition to the 2009-10 team is the return of sophomore Rachael Anderson. After spending the past academic year at Joliet Junior College, Anderson comes back to USF where she excelled as a freshman two years ago. She was the second-lowest scorer on the team in 2007-08 with an average of 87.0 strokes in the fall and 86.4 in the spring.

"Rachael is an experienced golfer that will give us a strong player to go along with Vicky at the top of our lineup," says O'Connor.

The five incoming freshmen include a pair of local products from Joliet and one from nearby Aurora, as well as a pair of out-of-state prospects.

Ashleigh Offerman played as a prep at Joliet Catholic Academy and Kali Hale came to USF from Joliet Township. Both are expected to immediately challenge for a spot among USF's top five or six players.