The fall girls golf season is here and our six local teams are ready to compete for the chance to play at state in October! This preview is sponsored by BMO Harris Bank.
Naperville Central Girls Golf
To kick things off on the girls golf portion of the fall preview, we start with the Naperville Central Redhawks who come into the season with a bunch of new faces on the varsity level. The Redhawks lose a whopping 7 golfers from the 2022 graduation class and return just one varsity team member in Junior Isabella Guzman. Last year for Central, they competed at the Oswego East Regional, but was unable to advance as a team to sectionals. 2022 Graduate Haley Hayes was able to qualify for sectionals as an individual, where she finished with a 92 and placed in the middle of the competition. This year the new look Redhawks will try to make sectionals for the first time in 3 years.
Naperville North Girls Golf
Across town, the Huskies of Naperville North will be without captains and 2021 graduates Eshani Ragam as well as Ashlyn Bhatia, who is now playing at Lake Forest College. A program with a long track record of state qualifying success, this year’s senior leadership will come from Sarah Sanek, Erica Lei and Annie Wittwer. Head coach Gretta Williams expands on how her Seniors impact the whole team.
“They definitely have that competition within them, that’s something you can’t really coach, said Huskies coach Greta Williams. “The desire and wanting to win and wanting to get better and these girls definitely have it. I think they’ve been such good leaders that they have been able to rub off on some of those younger girls that are now sophomores and they see what it takes in order to be a varsity player.”
The Huskies are coming off a regional appearance in 2021, where they finished fourth out of 10 teams, one spot out of team sectional qualification. They sent Bhatia, Ragam, Wittwer and 2022 graduate Jaidyn Lodens to sectionals individually. For the Huskies to have success this season, Coach Williams says that consistency will be a must.
Metea Valley Girls Golf
Metea Valley enters the fall coming off their best season in school history. The Mustangs were able to post a 10-2 overall record with 6 of those wins coming in DVC play. At the conference tournament, the Mustangs fell just short of the plaque, finishing in second place, but their season didn’t end there. Metea finished second at regionals and gained some valuable experience at sectionals where they ultimately finished 7th out of 12 teams. Some Mustangs to keep an eye on for this season include Abby Terada, Macey Martin, Pranvi Kakkar, and McKenna Wigfield.
Neuqua Valley Girls Golf
For the 2021 DVC champs and state qualifiers Neuqua Valley, the Wildcats bring back three top golfers from last fall.The trio includes Madison Coffey, Sophie Lagman and Rebecca Wu. The Wildcats also will showcase three sophomores throughout the season in Evan Ashley, Carley Rogers and Ruthie Martin. Despite the loss of one of the area’s top golfers in Sarah Zheng, Neuqua returns perhaps the strongest team in the DVC and are in a great position to win their third straight DVC title and perhaps go back to state again in October. Last season was just the second time in the last 20 years the Wildcats advanced to the state tournament as a team.
Waubonsie Valley Girls Golf
Waubonsie Valley showcased a strong finish at the end of last season, picking up a couple of second place finishes and a tie for third at the conference tournament. Senior Lilly Riley and Junior Kelly Cong both were named to the All-Conference team and eventually advanced to sectionals as individuals. This Warriors group has a lot of experience on the roster and brings back most of the key contributors from last fall.
Riley, who was a major part of the 2020 Warriors sectional appearance, will be one of three seniors on the roster. She’s joined by Ayana Patel and Sophia Angelides.
Benet Academy Girls Golf
Last but not least are the Benet Redwings, who finished third place in the East Suburban Catholic Conference last season. Notable returnees for the RedWings are sophomore’s Audrey Wake and Kerregan Reilly, as the team will be younger than most years and have just two returning seniors on the roster with Amelia Huerta and Mary Kate Wickstrom. New to the program is Junior Jenna Shilts, who put up two top five finishes during the summer. After missing out qualifying for state by just 6 strokes, the squad will try to build off their sectional appearance from 2021. Wake competed at State as an individual last year and will look to lead her team to qualification for the first time since 2016.
Check out the other previews here!
