This week, the Pioneer women’s golf team will look to make history. For the first time in the 10-year history of the program, DU will try to advance out of the NCAA regional tournament at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah, beginning Thursday.
The Pioneers, ranked No. 22 nationally by Golfweek and No. 18 by Golfstat.com, are enjoying their best season in school history after winning their fourth straight Sun Belt Conference title two weeks ago and are looking to take it even one step further.
“It’s nationals and we have never made it that far before,” said DU senior and team leader Emily Hoeper. “It would mean a lot to us to make it.”
After earning the seventh seed in the tournament, the Pioneers are favored to make it through the 21-team field in Utah. In NCAA golf, the top eight teams in each of the three regional tournaments advance to the national event which will be held at the LPGA National Golf Course in Daytona Beach. Fla.on May 22.
The No. 7 seed is the highest of any DU team, and something that the Pioneers feel shows the work that they have done to be able to make it past regionals for the first time.
“Its definitely different because this year everyone knows that we can do it,” said Hoeper. “In past years, we would have had to play extremely well. This year, that is our goal, and we feel that we can do it.”
During this record-setting season for the Pioneers, they have won an astonishing five tournaments as a team, had multiple individual titles and have now firmly established themselves as a top 25 team in the country.
One big reason for the Pioneers’ success this season has been the emergence of freshman phenom Stephanie Sherlock. Sherlock, who had arguably the best freshman campaign in school history, won three individual titles and seven top-five finishes, in her way to an impressive 72.56 scoring average through this point in the season.
Once the top-rated girl’s junior golfer in her native Canada, Sherlock has risen to No. 27 in the national individual rankings and will be a big part of the Pioneers’ success this week.
“Stephanie has been outstanding, and she has really pushed everyone to be better,” said Hoeper of her teammate who became the only other DU golfer besides Hoeper to win the SBC individual title. “We all work much harder because no one wants to be beaten by a freshman. She has been a great influence on the team.”
Though the Pioneers have one of the youngest teams in the regional tournament, as Hoeper is the only upperclassman in their regular line-up, this season has shown how far the program has come since its inception in 1997.
The Pioneers have now qualified for the regional tournament for six straight years, won their conference title four straight years, had two individual conference champions (Hoeper and Sherlock) and have risen into the top 25 in the college rankings.
With all of the Pioneers’ success in recent years, the next step would be to qualify for nationals.
“Our focus all year has been on going (to nationals),” said Hoeper. “It would mean everything to us.”
