PROVO, Utah – The BYU women’s golf team will open the 2019-20 season next week at the WSU Cougar Cup Sept. 16-17 at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington.
“We are excited to get going and start the year,” BYU head coach Carrie Roberts said. “It’s a great field to test where we are at.”
The Cougars return four of their five starters from last season’s team that capped off the year with a second-place finish at the WCC Championships. All four returning starters, senior Anna Kennedy, junior Naomi Soifua, and sophomores Allysha Mae Mateo and Annick Haczkiewicz, each recorded top-20 finishes at the WCC Championships and look to continue their momentum heading into the 2019-20 season.
Newcomers Kerstin Fotu, Lexie McKay, Cynthia Tu and Alina Vannarath aim to make up for the departure of last year’s lone senior and former WCC Player of the Year Rose Huang. Fotu, who redshirted with the team last season after transferring from UVU, is coming off a particularly strong summer. The Alpine, Utah native won the Utah State Amateur Championship and tied for third at the Utah Women’s Open this offseason.
McKay, Tu and Vannarath bring plenty of experience to the team as well. All three true freshmen qualified and competed in multiple junior golf national tournaments prior to coming to BYU. Sophomore Maria Jose Bernal Clavijo, who competed in three of the Cougars’ tournaments last season, rounds out this season’s roster.
Head coach Carrie Roberts returns to BYU in her tenth year at the helm. Roberts has led the program to five NCAA Regional postseason tournaments and looks to do so again this season after narrowly missing out on qualifying last year.
Fellow WCC teams Gonzaga, Pepperdine and San Francisco will be competing alongside BYU in the WSU Cougar Cup. Live stats and the leaderboard for the season-opening tournament can be found at Golfstat.com.