Season Preview: Women’s Golf has sights set on winning OAC title in 2023-24

By Wes Mayberry

| 2023-24 Women's Golf Schedule | 2023-24 Women's Golf Roster |

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's golf team enters the 2023-24 season in prime position to claim their second Ohio Athletic Conference championship in four years under 11th-year head coach Chad Bucci.

After winning the conference title in 2021, the Polar Bears have finished as the OAC runner-up the past two seasons and are coming off a 78-12 campaign in 2022-23. During last season's 11-event schedule, they won five tournaments as part of 10 top-three finishes, broke school-record team scores for 18, 36, 54 and 72 holes and recorded the lowest team average (324.2) in school history. They are primed to continue that success with the return of their top four golfers in average scores.

Grace Honigford (West Chester/Lakota East) enters her senior season as one of the greatest to ever play for the program.

A College Sports Communicators At-Large Academic All-American Second Team and WGCA All-Great Lakes Region selection last season, Honigford closed the year as a three-time Medalist with a team-best 78.8 average through 21 rounds of play to match her single-season program record from 2021-22. She posted nine top-four finishes in 11 events and a season-best round of 73.

Honigford's runner-up finish at the 2023 OACs marked her third career All-OAC accolade, as she was the 2021 tournament champion and was co-champion in 2022. In her three seasons at ONU, Honigford is a two-time WGCA All-America Scholar and 10-time OAC Golfer of the Week selection with 33 top-10 finishes, including 15 Medalist honors, in 36 career tournaments with an average score of 79.0 over 60 rounds of play. Her career average is the best in program history, and she owns school records for 18, 36, 54 and 72 holes.

Junior Amelia Burger (Centerville) and sophomore Marisa Alfes (Bellbrook) also return after ranking second on the team with matching averages of 81.4 last season.

Burger shot a 326 to finish tied for seventh at the OACs and earn her second consecutive All-OAC accolade. That score ranks fourth in program history for 72 holes. Overall, she posted eight top-10 finishes and averaged 81.4 strokes over 21 rounds. She owns a career best of 75 for 18 holes with 18 top-10 finishes and a career average of 82.3 over 42.5 rounds of play.

Alfes made her presence felt as a freshman in 2022-23, posting an All-OAC fourth-place showing at the OAC Championships with a 320 for the lowest 72-hole score by a freshman, and second-lowest overall, in program history. She owns seven top-10 finishes, and her career best for 18 holes is a 76.

Junior Rhianna Firmstone (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) returns after ranking fourth on the team in average last season with an 82.1 over 14 rounds. Firmstone earned All-OAC accolades as a freshman but was forced to miss the 2023 OACs due to injury after posting four top-10 finishes, including one Medalist honor, earlier in the year. She has 11 career top-10 finishes with an 82.2 average over 32.5 rounds and a personal-best single-round score of 74.

Honigford, Alfes, Firmstone and Burger currently occupy the top four spots on the ONU leaderboard for career averages.

Jessica Tubbs (Maumee/Springfield) and Torrie Smith (Kokomo, Ind./Western) are back in 2023-24 for their fifth-year senior seasons.

Tubbs was named a WGCA All-American Scholar last season and averaged 91.5 strokes over 11 rounds. She owns a single-round best of 82 and a career average of 93.2 over 35.5 rounds.

Smith ranks 15th all-time at ONU with a career average of 89.4 over 48.5 rounds. She earned All-OAC honors as a sophomore and finished tied for 16th at the OACs last season, finishing the year with a 90.5 average over 12 rounds. Her top score for 18 holes is an 81.

Senior Rylie Smith (Cambridge/Buckeye Trail), juniors Allie Honigford (Ottoville), Madyson Smith (Russiaville, Ind./Western) and Hailie Wilson (Eastlake/North) and sophomore Sara Slusher (Covington) round out the Polar Bears' returning letter winners for 2023-24.

Northern opens the fall portion of its 2023-24 schedule hosting the ONU Kick Off Classic on Sept. 3.