The goals for the Aberdeen Roncalli girls’ golf program technically never change, but this season those goals carry an added expectation.

“Even like last year, our goal is three plaques: conference, regions and get something at state. Last year we accomplished it. This year it’s no different,” said Roncalli coach Jon Murdy. “The goal is from the first tournament to the last tournament to keep improving. I’m not going to sit there and say we need to win every event that we go to. I just want the girls to get better at one thing each event, whether it’s keeping their head, putting, greens in regulation, driving, whatever it is for that week, they just need to find something that they did better.”

The pieces are all in place the Cavaliers to have a memorable spring campaign. Roncalli returns a veteran crew from last year’s squad which finished sixth as a team at the State A Tournament.

The Cavaliers, who do not have a single senior on the roster, will be led by four juniors: Claire Crawford, Grace Seyer, Morgan Helms and Ava Danielson. Eighth-grader McKenzie Wegehaupt is coming off a solid first varsity season, so Roncalli will definitely not be lacking for experience or motivation.

“Our top four, Claire, Morgan, Grace, Ava and then with McKenzie there, I mean all of them athletes, all of them like to compete, all of them want to get better, all of them want to beat the player that they’re playing against,” Murdy said. “For a coach, it’s kind of sit back and watch for the most part, but help them along the way with their golf game and go from there.”

Murdy said the biggest key is that the players are all driven to keep improving and want to get better throughout the season.

“I always say when I coach, even with the average joe that I’m giving a lesson to, there’s two things I can’t teach: I can’t teach work ethic and I can’t teach height,” Murdy said. “I can’t magically make you grow and I can’t teach you to want to compete or anything like that. So it’s having that with the girls, where they just again, they love to compete.”

The leader of the pack will once again be Crawford. She finished 18th at the state tourney a year ago and has proven to be the squad’s top golfer for multiple seasons.

“She’s one of those special kids that you wish that you could clone their mental,” Murdy said. “She could hit the absolute worst shot in the world and if you didn’t pay attention, you didn’t notice. She could hit a 50-footer for an Eagle to win a state tournament and win individual, and you won’t know it.”

Crawford’s emotionless demeanor has rubbed off on her teammates, so much so that Murdy often can’t tell from a distance how his players are doing.

“I always tell them I want to be able to watch from a distance and watch a golf shot and not know whether it’s your best or your worst,” Murdy said. “And all five of them do it. I’m very lucky in that.”

While Crawford doesn’t show a ton of emotion, Murdy said that doesn’t mean she isn’t driven to produced her best shot every stroke she attempts.

“I noticed it in practices last year and this year. Claire doesn’t really mess around when it’s her turn to hit a golf ball,” Murdy said. “She’s not going to sit there and chit chat. It’s her turn to hit, she’s going to hit.”

Both Crawford, individually, and the Cavaliers, as a team, won their third straight Northeast Conference championships last spring so naturally the bar is pretty high again for the upcoming season, which starts for Roncalli on Thursday at a tournament at Milbank.

“If you don’t have goals that are high, then what are you doing it for?” Murdy said. “It gives the kids a chance to reach something instead of just, I’m going to play golf and that’s it.”

Murdy said that while there will be some pressure that goes along with those goals, it’s not the end of the world if they happen to come up a bit short in the quest.

“It we come in second at regions, second at conference and seventh at state I’m not going to be mad,” Murdy said. “It’s not a do-or-die situation, but again, goals are always set whether they’re met or not. It’s to them and it’s to me, making sure that they stay on track.”

To be sure, the pieces are already in place for another memorable campaign for the Cavaliers.

“There’s not a lot of things that this team lacks. Just like in everything, if you get a little better, there’s not truly one part of golf game or personality or drive that says, oh, we’ve got to work on something,” Murdy said. “All of them are very good golfers, all of them can play well in all aspects of golf.”

Now, it’s a matter of turning that potential on paper into success out on the course.

“Paper wise, we should be winning conference, winning regions, we should be a top 3 or 4 in the state,” Murdy said, “but again, that’s on paper. … Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”