The turn of the millennium marked the last time Northwestern qualified for the NCAA Championships. But with four of its 10 regular season tournaments remaining, coach Emily Fletcher said the No. 37 Wildcats have a shot at returning to the national stage.
First the Cats have to make the region’s top 24 to compete in the NCAA Central Regionals, a feat they narrowly missed last year. NU finished the year No. 66, just a dozen spots below No. 54 Michigan, the lowest ranked team to qualify.
“We were pretty close to getting to the Regionals last year,” junior Rebecca Lederhausen said. “We definitely want to get that invitation this year and then take it from there.”
Fletcher, in her second year as coach, said NU can take a double-leap forward this year.
“We were just talking to our team about not getting caught up in just getting to Regionals but understanding that that’s just part of the process,” Fletcher said. “We have to take care of that and then move on. We are capable of being in that top 24 going into the national championship.”
The numbers back up the team’s ambitions. The Cats’ stroke average has improved substantially to 897.8 from 929.7 last season.
The team is doing well enough that the sixth-best individual average this season (77.50) is better than last season’s best (77.81).
“We have all made score improvements,” said Lederhausen, who has lowered her average by a stroke. “I’ve had some of my lowest rounds career-wise this year. I would like to have some lower rounds, maybe some under-par rounds thrown in here and there, get my scoring average down a little. “
Freshman Lauren Weaver leads the team’s scoring average chart with a 73.78. If the season were to end now, Weaver would carry the school record for single-season stroke average.
“Lauren has stepped up and it’s been vital for us and our improvement to have a freshman who can come in and have the impact that she has,” Fletcher said. “Having that number-one player who is shooting around par has helped us tremendously as a team. It has steadied the team.”
Weaver recorded a season-best fifth-place finish in the Dick McGuire Invitational in her second collegiate tournament. In four of the six tournaments so far, she has notched NU’s best score. While Weaver has yet to finish outside the top 20, she is still looking to improve as the season goes on.
“I always try to get better,” she said. “I’m just working on improvements right now to do even better in the spring than in the fall.”
Although the nine-member squad is composed of three freshmen, three sophomores and three juniors, Fletcher pointed out that a player’s class doesn’t translate to level of experience. Weaver, for example, has had plenty of competitive experience with junior golf, Fletcher said.
The young team has taken strides toward a Regional berth since failing to qualify in 2009, and it is on track to make it there this year. But the NCAA Championships in Wilmington, N.C., is the target they have set for themselves.
“We can get a lot better than we are right now,” Weaver said. “This year we have a better chance of making the Regionals and then hopefully qualify for NCAAs.”[email protected]
