With sophomore Victoria Huskey, of Greenville, South Carolina, leading the way, the Women’s Golf team won its third Colonial Athletic Association Championship – but its first since 2015 – on Sunday, April 15, 2018, at The Reserve Club at St. James Plantation in Southport, North Carolina, taking down two-time defending champ the University of Delaware by 10 shots.
The Cougars will learn their postseason opponent during a selection show airing Wednesday on the Golf Channel.
How appropriate that the tournament was at The Reserve Club where, with the win, the team reserved their spot in the NCAA Regionals May 7-9. It was the team’s third win of the season, tying the second-best season in program history.
“It was a great win for the team,” says head coach Jamie Futrell, who collected his fourth conference tournament title, which includes 2006 Southern Conference and 2014 CAA championships. “I’m really proud of where they came from in the fall to where they are now with three wins this spring. It shows what can happen when you have a strong work ethic and a willingness to compete. I can’t say enough about the improvement I saw from our team from the fall to the spring.”
Huskey finished one shot shy of individual medalist honors at +8 for the tournament, tying for second and marking her career-best finish. She was named to the CAA All-Tournament Team along with junior Isi Nilsson from Santiago, Chile, who tied for fourth at +10.
“Congrats to Victoria,” says Futrell. “I know she ended up one shot short [of medalist honors], but she had an outstanding tournament as did the whole team. We knew going into the championship, it would take a total team effort and that’s what it took to win this weekend. I am happy for the team and that their hard work paid off.”
The Cougars will learn their postseason destination during the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship Selection Show on Wednesday, April 25 at 5:30 p.m. (ET) on the Golf Channel. This year’s four regional sites are: Austin, Texas; Madison, Wisconsin; San Francisco, California; and Tallahassee, Florida.
Men’s Golf, meanwhile, was going for its fifth-straight CAA Championship at Lonnie Poole Golf Course in Raleigh, North Carolina, over the weekend, but came up two shots short of UNCW. There was an upside, however, as sophomore Michael Sass, from Louisville, Kentucky, earned individual medalist honors with a three-shot victory, winning him a trip to the men’s regionals May 14-16, 2018.
