And step up is exactly what Saint Mary's University men's and women's golf coach Jeff Stangl hopes his young players will do.

The Cardinals lost a combined seven players — Katelyn Rizzi, Brittney Neilson, Mariana Sanchez, and Rachel McNary on the women's side, and Rob Klein, Tony Hynes, and Ryan Brodd from the men's team — and for Stangl, the challenge won't just be replacing the players, it will be replacing the production.

The three that graduated on the men's side were the team's three leading scorers from a year ago, while the women lose four of the Cardinals top seven.

Replacing players of that caliber with be a challenge no doubt, but Stangl believes he has the talent to do so.

“Both sides lost strong and consistent scorers, and we will miss them all,” Stangl said. “But we have a returning core of excited and determined players on each team, as well as a couple freshmen that can make an impact.”

Leading the way for the Cardinal men will be #D.J. Borgen# (Red Wing, Minn.) and Ethan Austin (Northbrook, Ill.), who were the fourth and fifth leading scorers respectively. Stangl also believes that freshman Tim Wolford (Maple Grove, Minn.) can make an immediate impact.

“We have a good number of seniors, and players that showed promise, but with not a lot of experience, they will need to learn fast,” Stangl said.“Wolford looks to be the strongest freshman prospect. He can move the ball down the fairway with anybody, but needs to adjust to the competitive level in the MIAC — and I'm confident he can handle it.”

On the women's side, three of the top eight scorers return, including the team's second-leading scorer, Gia Puch (Des Plaines, Ill.), while junior transfer Rachel Lamberty (Farmington, Minn.) has also impressed Stangl.

According to Stangl, one of the biggest obstacles the women will have to overcome is shot selection. Too many times last season the Cardinals would make too many consecutive mistakes.

“We need to do a better job of focusing and sometimes accepting a bogey, rather than following one mistake with another, then another, and looking at a triple bogey or worse,” Stangl said.

Although both Cardinals teams will be light on experience, Stangl still believes his teams can be successful — as long as they can make adjustments when needed.

“One of the biggest challenges our teams face tournament to tournament is adjusting to the speed of the greens,” Stangl said. “A lot of the greens we see are much faster than our practice facility, so we need to make sure that when we warm up, to concentrate extra on chipping and putting.

“I'm excited about the season,” Stangl added. “Hopefully everyone can play up to their potential — that's all you can ask for as a coach."