This season consistency will be the motto of a Bruin team that boasts two players with 12 career top ten and 19 top 20 finishes. The Bruins also return three players with NCAA tournament experience, two other letter-winners, and welcome four talented freshmen.

Still, there's no substitute for victories in a program that has won 43 tournaments in 20 years.

Steinmann said, "This is a winning program, and we need to take it up a notch this year."

The player who hopes to step into the winner's circle first is senior captain Amandine Vincent, who led the team as a junior with five top ten finishes and tied for the team lead with six finishes among the top 20. Leading the team with 64 collegiate rounds, 22 appearances, and one shared first place finish (as a sophomore), the two-time All-Pac-10 selection's experience and steady play will provide a backbone for the success of this year's team.

"Amandine is a great competitor," said Steinmann. "She wants to win every time out, and our younger players will benefit from her competitiveness."

In seven appearances last season, junior Sophie Sandolo recorded three top ten finishes, six top 20s and led the team with a 75.1 scoring average. She proved to be the Bruins' savior in the second half of the season when they vaulted from 25th in the national rankings to fifth by the end of the year. She earned Second Team NGCA All-American honors and second team all-conference acclaim.

"Sophie has a solid all-around game," said Steinmann. "She'll be a force this season--one of the top players in the country."

The final member of UCLA's returning NCAA tournament threesome is sophomore Alexandra Gasser. She placed in a tie for fifth in her first collegiate tournament and played her best golf in post-season, playing her final 54 holes in five-over par at the NCAA Tournament.

"Alex learned a great deal last season," said Steinmann. "It showed in the NCAA Championships where she turned in her best rounds of the year."

Senior Betty Chen has 62 collegiate rounds and 21 career appearances to her credit, and hopes to regain her freshman form when she averaged 76.4 and placed among the top 20 five times.

Sophomore Jill Axelrod played in six rounds a year ago and participated in the Maccabi Games over the summer.

The Bruins' four incoming players are Leilani Bagby, Julie Oh, Laura Moffat and Alicia Um.

An outstanding student who earned scholastic All-American honors, Leilani Bagby was the 1993-94 SoCal Jr. Golf Assn. Player of the Year. She tied for first in the 1997 AJGA Aviara Tournament and was a semi-finalist in the 1997 USGA Junior Championship.

Julie Oh, whose brother Ted turned professional in the summer, was a Second Team AJGA All-American and a three-time All Bay League selection at Torrance High. She helped lead the Tartars to a pair of league titles and two berths in the state championship finals.

Laura Moffat, who is a +1 handicapper, won the 1996 Under-22 Scottish Girls Championship and the '96 Belgian International Juniors Tournament. She has been a member of the Scottish Ladies Amateur Team for two years.

Alicia Um, who qualified for the 1997 U.S. Women's Amateur, tied for third at the CIF SCGA High School Championships and tied for fifth at the CIF State Girls Championship.

"Overall, I feel this is a strong class, one that will contribute in the coming season," said Steinmann. "This class has competed well nationally and internationally, and should assist in making UCLA a top contender for this season."