Season Review: Women's Golf posts fourth consecutive upper-division OAC finish in 2016-17

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's golf team continued its successful ways, posting its fourth consecutive upper-division Ohio Athletic Conference finish during the 2016-17 season under 4th-year head coach Chad Bucci.

The Polar Bears also recorded their fourth consecutive season with 25 or more victories after posting a 26-27 record during the 2016-17 campaign.

Northern saw two athletes earn All-OAC honors for their efforts at the OAC Championships this season.

Senior Ariana Tomasula (Rocky River/Lutheran West) and sophomore Suzanne Short (Findlay) earned All-Conference honors after the duo each finished within the top-14 at the conference championships.

Tomasula becomes only the second Ohio Northern player to earn All-Conference accolades all four years of her career, while Short earned her first All-OAC honor.

Tomasula, Short, Silva and seniors Heather Comer (DeGraff/Riverside) and Hannah Whisler (Bristol, Ind./Elkhart Central) fell two strokes shy of tying the all-time school record for best finish at the OAC Championships.

Northern also saw three athletes named to the Academic All-OAC list, as Tomasula, senior Jennifer Hipskind (Fort Wayne, Ind./Dwenger) and sophomore Caitlin Silva (Hilliard/Bradley) were each named Academic All-Conference.

Tomasula led the team, averaging 87.5 strokes per round during the season.

Her season average ranks 13th all-time in school history.

Silva's 88.3 strokes per round ranked second on the team and 17th in school history.

Comer and Short also cracked the top-20 for best single season averages in school history as Comer averaged 88.5 strokes per round and Short averaged 89.1 strokes per round.

The Polar Bears would open the season at the Denison Fall Invitational, where they finished 14th of 16 before competing in the Ohio Wesleyan Fall Invitational and finishing 4th of 7 teams.

After posting a solid second place finish at the Heidelberg Fall Invite, Northern would drop a hard fought dual match with Grace (Ind.).

Northern wrapped the fall portion of the schedule up with a third place finish at the OAC Preview at River Greens Golf Course.

ONU would open the spring schedule with a solid performance in a Ryder Cup-style match with Thomas More (Ky.), claiming the Atlantic Ocean Classic in Charleston, S.C. on a tiebreaker.

Ohio Northern would then finish 4th of 11 teams in the Polar Bear Classic, before finishing 3rd of 5 at the Capital Spring Invitational.

The season would conclude as Northern posted a strong showing at the OAC Championships, where they finished third of six teams.