Finding the course for the team to practice on and filling out the rosters for the men's and women's golf programs is certainly important.

However, when Matt Ward was trusted with the challenge of restarting the Chargers' men's program and starting the women's program, it was all about getting the right people to lay the foundation.

The early returns have been incredibly positive.

We do have good team chemistry amongst both teams which is fun, they do work out together," Ward said. "We were at workouts, there were two players from each team and they got put into a relay race with each up. They are yukking it up, having a good time and getting after it so it is fun to see that because they do genuinely care about each other."

The highlight as the men's team wrapped up the first season of men's golf at New Haven since 2009 was seeing the Chargers finish ahead of American International College and finish just two strokes behind Saint Michael's at the Northeast-10 Conference championships.

Aissa El-Khadri (/) finished tied for eighth with a 72 in the first round and he finished tied for 14th. Teammate Santiago Cervantes (Mexico City, Mexico/Colegio Vista Hermosa) had a final round of 73 to finish tied for 23rd.

Andrew Mahr (/), Jacob Vougiatzis (Tenafly, N.J./Tenafly) and Tyler Pickman (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) also took part in the conference championships. Mahr had a 78 in round one while Vougiatzis' best round came on the final day.

"On the men's side, we have a little more experience coming in," Ward said. We have a couple of international players, one from Mexico, one from Morocco who are both accomplished at an amateur level where they are from. It was kind of a pleasant surprise, the guys did better than I thought they would do.

"I am pleased with the group. The work ethic has been very good. Those two I can build around to start so that is a good thing. We will obviously look to add a few players next year, but recruiting has gone very well."

Danielle Jastrab (Camino, Calif./Eldorado) led the Chargers with rounds of 92 and 90 at the conference championship. Emily Florin (Monroe, Conn./Masuk), Hannah Catallo-Stooks (/), Abigail Hepler (/) and Mackenzie Gardner (/) also took part in the NE100s.

"The women's side, almost everybody's a walk-on," Ward said. "We are very young, brand-new golfers, some who played high school, it is a very young team that is very raw but they work very hard out there. I love the camaraderie, five girls who never met each other. I have never coached a team that has gotten along better so it is nice to see you don't have the division."

Fundraising has gone well and that could result in bringing in scholarship players to help the women's program take the next step.

The fall 2022 season was as much about the journey as it was about the final numbers on the scorecard.

"The guys, [the program] ended in 08-09 so it has been a long time, so for them to get it started again, that is fun," Ward said. "For me, some of that is I have to get back in touch with some of those alums on the men's side to see if we can't build that relationship.