SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Four freshmen were among the 10 players named to the All-Southern Conference women’s golf team in a combination of voting by the league’s head coaches and Golfstat rankings, including SoCon Freshman of the Year Haylee Harford from league champion Furman. SoCon Co-Players of the Year Alice Chen (Furman), the SoCon tournament runner-up for the second straight year, and Emily McLennan (Chattanooga), who earned all-conference honors for a fourth straight season, highlight the team.
ETSU’s Hee Ying Loy, Furman’s Chen, Harford and Taylor Totland and Chattanooga’s McLennan 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 Valentina Romero, Mercer’s Mary Janiga and Payton Schanen and Chattanooga’s Megan Woods, this year’s SoCon medalist, complete the team.
Loy, Harford, Janiga and Schanen earned all-freshman honors, as well, with Chattanooga’s Monica San Juan rounding out that five-person team.
The coaches voted on individual awards at the conclusion of the SoCon Women’s Golf Championship, with Furman’s Chen and UTC’s McLennan sharing player of the year distinction. Harford was voted the league’s top rookie, while the Paladins’ Kelley Hester was named coach of the year for the second straight year after leading Furman to back-to-back titles.
Chen, a sophomore, posted her second straight runner-up finish at the conference championship after falling in a five-hole playoff to Chattanooga’s Woods following a 2-over-par 218 during regulation. The second-year player from Princeton, N.J., led outright after the first two rounds and was the Paladins’ second straight SoCon Player of the Year. The all-conference honor is the second straight for last season’s top freshman, who is second in the league this year in scoring average at 73.29.
Totland, the 2014 SoCon Freshman of the Year and 2015 Player of the Year, earned all-conference honors for the third straight season. The junior, who matched the SoCon tournament record with a 4-under 68 in Monday’s second round, tied for third at this year’s championship after a second-place finish in 2014 and a win last year. She is third in the league in stroke average this season at 73.52.
Harford is the league’s top freshman in terms of stroke average (73.56, fourth overall) and national rank (107, second to Totland). The Leavittsburg, Ohio, rookie tied with Totland for third at the SoCon Championship and became the Paladins’ third consecutive freshman of the year behind Totland and Chen.
Romero, a senior, joined teammate Totland in becoming a three-time all-conference selection. Romero tied for fifth at this year’s SoCon Championship as the Paladins put their entire scoring four in the top five.
Chattanooga’s McLennan shared SoCon Player of the Year honors with Chen and leads the league in scoring average at 73.03. The 2013 Freshman of the Year and 2014 SoCon medalist becomes just the eighth player in league history earn all-conference honors four times. The Queensland, Australia, native was the only multiple winner of the league’s golfer of the week award this season and was the SoCon women’s golf athlete of the month for March.
McLennan was joined on the all-conference squad by Mocs teammate Woods, who beat Furman’s Chen on the fifth playoff hole to earn medalist honors at the SoCon Championship. The win was the first of Woods’ collegiate career.
ETSU, which finished third at the SoCon Championship, put a pair of golfers on the all-conference team in Chin and Loy, who tied each other for eighth at the SoCon Championship. Chin, seventh in league in stroke average (74.53), takes all-conference honors for the second straight season. Loy is fifth in the conference with a 73.77 stroke average.
A pair of Mercer rookies round out the all-conference teams in Mary Janiga and Payton Schanen. Janiga finished her freshman campaign sixth in the league in scoring average at 74.11, while Schanen was eighth at 74.57. Each won a tournament in her first year of competition, with Janiga claiming the Fighting Camel Fall Classic and Schanen taking medalist honors at the FGCU Eagle Invitational to open the spring slate.
The NCAA field will be announced live on the Golf Channel during “Golf Central” from 6-7 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 25. The 21st-ranked Paladins earned the SoCon’s automatic bid to the postseason.
2016 All-Southern Conference team
Vivienne Chin, Sr., ETSU
Hee Ying Loy, Fr., ETSU
Alice Chen, So., Furman
Haylee Harford, Fr., Furman
Valentina Romero, Sr., Furman
Taylor Totland, Jr., Furman
Mary Janiga, Fr., Mercer
Payton Schanen, Fr., Mercer
Emily McLennan, Sr., Chattanooga
Megan Woods, So., Chattanooga
2016 Southern Conference All-Freshman team
Hee Ying Loy, ETSU
Haylee Harford, Furman
Mary Janiga, Mercer
Payton Schanen, Mercer
Monica San Juan, Chattanooga
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