NORFOLK, Va. -- The Old Dominion women's golf team is set to commence the spring portion of the 2016-17 season this weekend, as the Lady Monarchs will travel to Orlando for the UCF Challenge beginning Sunday, Feb. 5 through Tuesday, Feb. 7 at the Eagle Creek Country Club.
FALL RECAP
Under the guidance of first year head coach Mallory Hetzel, the Lady Monarchs competed in three tournaments this fall with their best finish coming at the Golfweek Conference Challenge in Vail, Colorado on Sept. 26-28. ODU finished in a tie for fourth place out of 18 teams, and Rachel Walker grabbed eighth place out of 90 golfers.
The Lady Monarchs also registered a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Regional Preview at Ironwood and took 13th at the Maryb S. Kauth Invitational in October.
Old Dominion wrapped up the fall season ranked No. 60 nationally according to the GolfStat relative team rankings that were released Nov. 15, which was the highest ranking of all teams in Conference USA.
SPRING SCHEDULE
Feb. 5-7: UCF Challenge (Orlando, Fla.)
March 6-7: UNF Collegiate (Jacksonville, Fla.)
March 20-22: SDSU's March Mayhem (San Diego, Calif.)
April 7-9: Liz Murphey (Athens, Ga.)
April 10-11: Brickyard Collegiate (Macon, Ga.)
April 17-19: C-USA Championships (Fort Myers, Fla.)
CONFERENCE USA PREVIEW
"What to expect: Old Dominion is not only the highest ranked team in C-USA, but it also is arguably the deepest, with all five starters ranked 648th or better by Golfweek." -- Golfweek
According to Golfweek's 2017 C-USA spring preview, the Lady Monarchs enter the spring season ranked No. 1 in the C-USA. Juniors Katerina Vlasinova and Maggie Simmermacher were named to the Midseason All-Conference Team, as Vlasinova retains a national individual ranking of 196 and Simmermacher is listed at No. 269.
C-USA TEAM RANKINGS (GolfStat Team Ranking)
1. Old Dominion (64)
2. UTSA (77)
3. FIU (78)
4. Southern Miss (86)
5. MTSU (98)
6. Western Kentucky (103)
7. UTEP (107)
8. UAB (137)
9. Marshall (143)
10. North Texas (145)
11. FAU (217)
RETURNERS
Rachel Walker, Sr., Dumfries, Scotland
The lone senior for the Lady Monarchs, Walker enters her final season after earning the second C-USA All-Tournament Team honors of her career via her third-place finish at the conference championships last spring. The Scotland native has two C-USA Player of the Week awards to her credit to date, including POW honors that came last fall when Walker shot a career-best 6-under 210 to finish third at the Pinehurst Challenge.
Katerina Vlasinova, Jr., Trebic, Czech Republic
Vlasinova enters the spring as the highest ranked Lady Monarch, retaining a No. 196 ranking according to GolfStat. The junior was named to the All-Conference USA third team last spring for the second-straight year and earned Women's Golfer of the Week after notching a ninth-place finish out of 216 golfers at the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic, the nation's largest collegiate tournament.
Maggie Simmermacher, Jr., Buenos Aires, Argentina
Simmermacher, ranked No. 269 by GolfStat, will look to follow up on All-Conference USA second team honors in 2016 and C-USA Freshman of the Year and first team All-C-USA accolades in 2015. The junior from Argentina registered a 10th-place finish at the conference championships last spring and has been named C-USA Women's Golfer of the Week five times in just her first two years as a Lady Monarch.
Charlotte De Corte, So., Londerzeel, Belgium
De Corte impressed in her freshman campaign last season, earning third team All-Conference USA honors. The native of Londerzeel, Belgium recorded four top-10 finishes during the 2015-16 season, which included a fifth-place finish at the UNF Collegiate and a sixth-place result at the Golfweek Challenge, her first collegiate competition.
Sana Tufail, So., Abu Dhabi, UAE
Tufail begins her sophomore campaign after placing sixth at the 2016 Conference USA Championships as a freshman. A native of Abu Dhabi, UAE, Tufail helped the Lady Monarchs to a second-place finish at the Fighting Camel Classic last fall by turning in a 10th-place finish individually.
NEWCOMERS
The Lady Monarchs welcome freshman Noemie Sudron from Rouen, France and sophomore transfer Abby Portyrata from Richmond, Virginia to the team.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to keep up with all the latest news regarding ODU Women’s Golf on Facebook and follow @ODUWGolf on Twitter using the hashtag #ODUWGOLF. ODU Women's Golf is also now on Instagram @odu_womens_golf.