SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman senior Anna Morgan has been named the Southern Conference Women’s Golf Player of the Year in voting conducted by the league’s nine head coaches. Western Carolina’s Brielle Mapanao is the 2022-23 SoCon Freshman of the Year and the Catamounts’ Courtney Gunter is the league’s coach of the year.
The league also named a 10-member all-conference team and a five-member all-freshman team, with the all-conference team determined by a combination of Golfstat rankings and coaches’ votes and the all-freshman team voted on by the coaches.
Morgan, the top-ranked golfer in the SoCon at No. 79 nationally, turned in four top-10 finishes this season, including wins at the UNF Collegiate in March and the SoCon Women’s Golf Championship earlier this month. The senior was the SoCon Player of the Week twice this season, with both occurrences coming March.
The Spartanburg, South Carolina, native leads the conference with a 72.47 stroke average over 32 rounds. Morgan also competed at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on March 29-30. It was the second straight year that Morgan competed in the event.
Morgan earned All-SoCon recognition for the third straight season, along with being named SoCon Player of the Year for a second straight time. A Paladin golfer has been named player of the year 19 times, with this season marking the fourth time in the last five years that a member of the Furman squad has won the award.
Mapanao is third in the SoCon with a 73.78 stroke average this season. The native of Quakers Hill, New South Wales, Australia, finished in the top 10 in six tournaments this season and finished in the top 15 in eight of the nine tournaments in which she competed. Mapanao tied for 10th at the SoCon Women’s Golf Championship. The freshman earned a spot on the all-conference team and all-freshman squad.
She is Western Carolina’s fourth SoCon Freshman of the Year and first since 2007.
Gunter becomes the second Western Carolina coach to be named SoCon Coach of the Year in women’s golf and first since three-time winner Steve Lott won in 2006. Now in her fifth year at the helm, Gunter led the Catamounts to eight top-three finishes during the season. The Catamounts finished in the top 10 in all 10 of the tournaments t in which they competed this season.
Western Carolina won four tournaments this season, including three consecutive first-place finishes to begin the fall portion of the schedule. Prior to this season, the team had not won a stroke-play tournament since September 2019. Two of those victories came in comeback fashion, with the team rallying back from the runner-up spot to win the Jennifer Duke Invitational in September and the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate in April.
SoCon champion Furman had two representatives on the all-conference team and the all-freshman team. Morgan was joined on the all-conference team by freshman Chloe Johnson. Chloe Johnson was also on the all-freshman team alongside her twin sister, Faith Johnson. Chloe Johnson was the runner-up at the SoCon Championship after shooting a 2-over 218.
Mapanao was joined on the All-SoCon squad by teammates Elizabeth Lohbauer and Madison Isaacson, who finished fourth and sixth in the league in stroke average, respectively. Isaacson completed the SoCon Championship in fourth place.
ETSU had a pair of golfers on the all-conference squad in Hollie Muse and Sophia Bert. Both were in the top 10 in the SoCon in stroke average this season and Muse finished fifth at the SoCon Championship. Mercer’s Kate Song earned a spot on the all-conference team. Song, who finished the SoCon Championship in third, had a stroke average of 74.42 this season.
UNCG and Chattanooga each had one representative on the all-conference team and the all-freshman team. The Spartans had Grace Holcomb make the all-conference team and Julia Baeumken on the all-freshman squad. The Mocs had Dorota Zalewska, who is ranked No. 92 nationally and holds the second-best stroke average in the conference at 72.93, make the all-conference team, while Kera Healey was a member of the all-freshman team.
Furman clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA regionals by virtue of its win at the SoCon Championship. The NCAA field will be announced live on Wednesday, April 26, at 1 p.m. (ET), on the Golf Channel.
2022-23 Southern Conference Player of the Year
Anna Morgan, Sr., Furman
2022-23 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year
Brielle Mapanao, Western Carolina
2022-23 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
Courtney Gunter, Western Carolina
2022-23 All-Southern Conference Team
Hollie Muse, Sr., ETSU
Sophie Bert, So., ETSU
Anna Morgan, Sr., Furman
Chloe Johnson, Fr., Furman
Kate Song, So., Mercer
Grace Holcomb, So., UNCG
Dorota Zalewska, Sr., Chattanooga
Brielle Mapanao, Fr., Western Carolina
Elizabeth Lohbauer, So., Western Carolina
Madison Isaacson, 5th, Western Carolina
2022-23 All-Freshman Team
Chloe Johnson, Furman
Faith Johnson, Furman
Julia Baeumken, UNCG
Kera Healey, Chattanooga
Brielle Mapanao, Western Carolina