By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Xavier sophomore Andy Pope's first collegiate golf tournament win was "nice." So was the fact that it came in front of his parents and sister at the Atlantic 10 Championships.

But just one fewer stroke would have been so much nicer. "Obviously I wanted to win the team title more," Pope said. "If I had helped out with one or two more shots, it would have been better."

Pope earned Xavier's fourth A-10 medalist honor Sunday, but it wasn't enough to help the Musketeers defend their 2003 conference title. Xavier shot a final-day 297 to Rhode Island's final-day 295 to lose the A-10 title to URI 884-883.

The Musketeers had won two consecutive tournaments heading into the conference event.

"We were just kind of flat the whole tournament," XU coach Doug Steiner said. "It's tough coming off two wins in a row, and with the magnitude of those wins . . . It was the first time we went into the A-10 tournament having secured an NCAA berth. We played flat, and the fact that we were one shot short made it even more frustrating."

The circumstances were the opposite last year for Pope, who took runner-up as a freshman in Xavier's championship. This year, freshman Jason Kokrak had the best rookie finish with a third-place tie that earned him A-10 Rookie of the Year honors. It was a big help in a weekend when some of the other Musketeers struggled.

With the way Pope and Kokrak stepped up over the weekend, Steiner thinks the Musketeers could be primed for redemption by making their best NCAA run yet. Xavier will receive its third NCAA tournament bid on May 10 as one of the top six teams out of the Midwest Region. The team sat in third regionally in last week's rankings.

"We feel like the way we've been playing we're capable, and it's a realistic goal," Steiner said. "The program has improved 16 consecutive years. It's improved to the point where now we can think big."

That means the possibility of finally reaching the NCAA finals. To do it, the Musketeers will have to finish in the top 10 of 27 teams in one of three regions. It's a goal they've been building toward, placing in a tie for 19th in 2001 and in 22nd in 2003 in the NCAA regional. Pope said they have to clear up some "stupid mistakes" and relax.

"I don't think we got beat (at the A-10s). I think we lost to ourselves," Pope said. "We're excited because we know what we're capable of doing . . . We've been building toward it since the beginning of the season."

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com