Women's Golf Southern Conference

All-SoCon Women?s Golf Team Announced

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A league-record five players from Southern Conference champion Furman highlight the 2015 all-conference women’s golf team, while the Paladins claimed three of the five spots on the SoCon All-Freshman team. The teams are selected by a combination of Golfstat rankings and a vote of the league’s nine head coaches.

Furman’s Alice Chen, Valentina Romero and Taylor Totland, Samford’s Sydney Needham and Chattanooga’s Agathe Sauzon automatically earned spots on the All-SoCon team as the top five league golfers in the Golfstat rankings. The remaining spots on the all-conference team were voted on by the coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own student-athletes. ETSU’s Vivienne Chin, Furman’s Laura DeMarco and Renoa Hirai, Samford’s Bailey Gray and Chattanooga’s Emily McLennan round out the all-conference team.

Chen, the SoCon Freshman of the Year, headlined the all-freshman team. Teammates Hirai and Jacqueline Bendrick joined her in earning rookie honors. ETSU’s Dominika Czudkova and Chattanooga’s Megan Woods complete the team.

Totland, who was named the league’s player of the year at the SoCon Women’s Golf Championship at Savannah Quarters on Tuesday, is ranked 16th nationally and won the individual SoCon championship by four strokes over Chen. Totland, a sophomore who earned all-conference honors for the second straight season, leads the league with a 71.63 stroke average. She won two tournaments in 2014-15 and tied for first in another, falling in a playoff to determine the medalist.

The Tinton Falls, N.J., native turned in a tournament-record score of 8-under-par 208 to win her first league title, matching the tournament single-round record with a 4-under 68 in Tuesday’s final round. She became the only player in league history to post three rounds under par in the same SoCon tournament.

Chen, who shared the lead at the SoCon tournament after each of the first two days, finished with a 4-under 212 in the runner-up spot, matching what had previously been the 54-hole record. Her 73.67 stroke average is second among active SoCon players this season.

Furman’s Romero earned all-conference honors for the second straight season, while Hirai and DeMarco are first-time selections. All three are in the top 10 in stroke average in the league this season and each of them finished in the top 20 at the SoCon Championship, highlighted by Hirai’s ninth-place finish. Romero tied for 13th and DeMarco finished 17th.

Furman, ranked 29th nationally, won its 14th SoCon title and first since 2009.

Samford’s Needham finished the season with a team-best stroke average of 75.03, good for eighth in the SoCon, while Gray was close behind at 75.59. Gray matched the SoCon tournament record with a second-round 68 on Monday and finished the tournament in a tie for sixth at 1-over 217.

Each of Chattanooga’s all-conference selections is a previous SoCon champion. Sauzon, the 2013 individual medalist, ranks fifth in the league with a 74.70 stroke average and tied for fourth at this season’s SoCon tournament at even-par 216. McLennan, the 2014 SoCon champion, is just behind Sauzon with a 74.90 stroke average and finished third at this season’s championship event with a 2-under 214. Sauzon and McLennan each earned all-conference distinction for the third time.

ETSU’s Chin is ninth in the SoCon with a 75.30 stroke average and posted a 15th-place finish at the league tournament.

2015 All-Southern Conference Women’s Golf Team
Vivienne Chin, Jr., ETSU
Alice Chen, Fr., Furman
Laura DeMarco, Sr., Furman
Reona Hirai, Fr., Furman
Valentina Romero, Jr., Furman
Taylor Totland, So., Furman
Bailey Gray, Sr., Samford
Sydney Needham, So., Samford
Emily McLennan, Jr., Chattanooga
Agathe Sauzon, Sr., Chattanooga

2015 Southern Conference All-Freshman Team
Dominika Czudkova, ETSU
Jacqueline Bendrick, Furman
Alice Chen, Furman
Reona Hirai, Furman
Megan Woods, Chattanooga

-www.SoConSports.com-