The Chattanooga Mocs women’s golf team opens a 12-tournament slate in September. Chattanooga is the four-time defending Southern Conference Champions, and the program begins its seventh season of competition in a few weeks.
UTC has qualified for NCAA Regionals in all six previous campaigns, the last five as a team.
Despite the strong run, head coach Colette Murray, a three-time SoCon Coach of the Year awardee, is not resting on her laurels.
“We changed up our schedule a bit this year with a few more 36/18’s (two-day tournaments),” Murray stated. “So we’ll be able to play more tournaments, which is good. We’re looking for a good start at Louisville and try to get wins in the fall.”
The Mocs open 2013-14 at Louisville’s Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup September 16-17 in Simpsonville, Ky. It is one of six events of the 11 regular season tourneys the squad returns to this year. It is the first of five during the fall portion of the schedule which come in rapid-fire order.
Three days later, Chattanooga tees it up in Knoxville at the Mercedes-Benz Women’s Championship (Sept. 20-22). That’s followed by a three-week stretch which sees the Mocs travel to the Starmount Fall Classic (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), Lady Pirate Intercollegiate (Oct. 7-8) and Diane Thomason Invitational (Oct. 12-13).
“It’s going to be a very fast fall with five tournaments in as many, if not less, weeks,” Murray said.
UTC travels six to the UGA Individual prior to the start of the spring slate. This is the second year the squad has played in this unique event which has no team scoring component.
It’s back to the Central District Invitational to open the spring February 17-18 in Florida. There is a bit more spacing between the five spring tourneys as the Mocs remain in the southeast throughout playing in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
March opens in Kiawah Island, S.C., for College of Charleston’s Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic (March 2-4). Nearly two weeks later, Chattanooga heads to Augusta, Ga., for the Insperity Lady Jag Intercollegiate (March 14-16).
The final two regular-season stops are the same as 2012-13 at the Briar’s Creek Invitational (March 24-25) and Web.com Intercollegiate (April 7-8). That leads into the start of postseason and a return to Hilton Head, S.C.
The Southern Conference Championship is April 13-15 returning to Moss Creek Golf Club. UTC has won all four SoCon Championships played at the challenging tract.
From there, the Mocs plan to return to NCAA Regionals May 9-11. The top eight of 24 teams at each of the three regional sites advances to the NCAA Championship May 21-24. The finals are at Tulsa Country Club in Oklahoma.
“I really want to see us build on what we did last year,” Murray added. “We were young and inconsistent, so I’d like to see that maturity we have lead into a consistent effort tournament-to-tournament.”
Murray returns all six members of the 2012-13 SoCon Champions led by senior Jordan Britt (Chattanooga, Tenn.), junior SoCon Champion Agathe Sauzon (Valence, France) and sophomore Emily McLennan (Queensland, Australia), the 2013 SoCon Freshman of the Year.
“It’s Jordan’s senior year so I know she wants to go out on a high note,” Murray continued. “Emily is looking great…Aggie is excited and raring to go. She’s acknowledged the work we did in the spring and how much it has helped.”
Juniors Porsche Campbell (Vancouver, Canada), Mette Kryger (Nivaa, Denmark) and sophomore Isabella Loza (Bucaramanga, Colombia) join the All-SoCon trio. There is a lot of competition for the five starting spots to be certain.
“I think Isa is going to be a player for us this year,” Murray concluded. “I think that transition as a freshman is behind her and she’s ready to take that next step. Porsche’s looking good and Mette had a great summer. I’m really excited to get started.”
The road to Tulsa starts September 16-17 in Kentucky.