This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster women's golf team is competing in this week's North Coast Athletic Conference Championship, which runs May 2-4 at Otter Creek Golf Club in Columbus, Indiana. DePauw University and Wabash College are hosting this year's championship, which is a single-event, 54-hole format with 18 holes scheduled for each day.
Media Coverage: Fans can follow LeaderboardKing for live scoring and check WoosterAthletics.com for end-of-day recaps.
Looking Back at 2024's NCAC Championship: Wooster elevated its program to new heights at the 2024 NCAC Championship, held at Westfield Country Club's North Course. Wooster opened with a 299, the program's record by eight strokes. Alumna Melissa Burtscher's 72 matched her program record, while current senior Ally Siewert (Northfield, Ohio/Nordonia) lowered her collegiate-best to a 74 and carded her third eagle in collegiate competition on No. 16.
Round two saw Wooster shoot a 301 to remain four strokes back of eventual champion Denison University. Burtscher set a program record for low round with a 71, securing it with a par on the par-4, 383-yard ninth hole, which was the women's finishing hole. She played 15 holes at par or better. Alumna Grace Lindgren added a 72, tied for the second-lowest round in program history. Lindgren's career-best saw her play the final 15 holes of Westfield's par-70 layout at even par.
Burtscher went on to become the program's first-ever NCAC runner-up, and the first two-time first-team all-conference performer in program history. Burtscher capped her season with a 79.1 average, becoming the first player in program history to average under 80 strokes a round for the season. Wooster finished at 321.5 strokes per round, a 14-stroke betterment of the old record of 335.5 set during the 2022-23 season.
The Year of Ally Siewert Records: Program records have constantly been broken this year by Siewert, who is vying to cap her career as women's golf's first four-time all-conference honoree (note – all-conference is voted on this year for the first time after being determined by finish at the conference championship in prior seasons). She most recently became a five-time collegiate medalist by winning the Forest Hills Intercollegiate by five strokes. The Forest Hills win was Siewert's third of the year, giving the senior the most medalist wins in a season in program history. Her 24 top-five finishes are the most in program history by six, while she is searching for her 30th career top-10 finish at conference.
Scots Steady All Year: As a team, Wooster has four second-place finishes this year, plus a 326-375 dual win over Ohio Wesleyan University. Wooster's first runner-up finish came at the University of Mount Union Fall Invitational, where sophomore Paige Nicely (Coshocton, Ohio/River View) placed in the top-10 for the first time as a Scot with a collegiate-best 82. At the Westminster College Fall Invitational, sophomore Abigail Haywood (Dayton, Ohio/Centerville) placed in the top-three for the first time as a Scot. Haywood's 81 tied for the sophomore's third-lowest collegiate score. Next, it was a fitting day for Siewert at the Grove City College Fall Invitational, where the senior shot a career-best 1-over-par 73 to lead the Scots to a runner-up finish. Siewert broke the program's record for most top-five finishes at Grove City. Wooster's final runner-up finish came at Mount Union's Spring Invitational. Sophomore Morgan Erdmann (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) was the medalist at 77, one off her collegiate-best set at last year's conference championship.
Stepping Up: Wooster graduated its top-two leaders for career scoring average in Lindgren (82.5) and Burtscher (82.9) last spring. Haywood, who averaged 84.7 strokes per round last spring, has really stepped up with an 83.3 average, which ranks second on the team. Haywood's 76 in the second round of Wittenberg University's Jeff Roope Invitational on October 21 was a collegiate-best. The sophomore has two top-five and six top-10 finishes this year. Erdmann's 86.1 average ranks third on the team. In addition to her medalist 77 at Mount Union's spring event, Erdmann has a pair of 81s from the fall season. Erdmann has two top-five and four top-10 finishes, with the most recent coming at Indiana University Kokomo's Spring Shootout.
Breaking 80: Nicely capped the fall season by breaking 80 for the first time in college. Nicely went 2-over-par for the first 10 holes en route to her 79 at Springfield Country Club. Nicely scored three birdies during the collegiate-best, with two of them coming on par-5 holes at Springfield.
