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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – For the first time since 2019, the West Chester University women's golf team is finishing its preparations for the NCAA Division II East Regional Championships at Findlay Country Club. The opening round will get underway on Monday, with the first tee times of the Tournament at 9 a.m.
"It's been a really exciting year for us as a program," acknowledged head coach
Chris Merce. "We've had a great mix of returners and talented new faces that have an immediate impact, so it has been a really fun group to coach and I think the results of our work all year have really been showing in the last few weeks."
West Chester will be joined in Ohio by Findlay who is the host and the top seed along with Grand Valley State, U Indy, Missouri-St. Lous, Ferris State, Ashland, Tiffin, Gannon Lewis, McKendree, Maryville, Davenport, Charleston, Wayne State, Northwood, Saginaw Valley State, and Adelphi.
Individually, Sydney Hugo (Walsh), Elaine Grant (UIS Prairie Stars), AJ Powell(Parkside), Grace Stafford (Drury), Lily Zicarelli (Parkside), Lily Vardaman (Quincy).
The top four teams and the top two individuals not on an advancing team will advance to the Division II Women's Golf Championships at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, May 12-16.
Findlay Country Club is a par-72 with a yardage that will begin at 5,956 in the first round on Monday, with the second round being played with a yardage of 5,967, and the third and final round will be the shortest of the week at 5,952.
"There is only so much we can find out before we get to the course," acknowledged Merce when asked about playing a new course (Findlay Country Club) next week. "Cara (Murphy) has played it before, so she has given us some insights into it, but it sounds like it is a fairly tight, treelined course, which will require placement golf, and it'll have fast greens throughout the week. We are excited to get out for the practice round and dive into our yardage books to map out our strategy for the week."
West Chester advances to the Regional Championships for the second time in its history and the first time as an At-Large selection, as the Golden Rams advanced to the Regional Championships in Kentucky in 2019 after capturing the PSAC Tournament Championship in October 2018 for its first and to date only PSAC Tournament Championship.
West Chester enjoyed an outstanding 2025-26 season, punching its ticket to the Regional Tournament, as the Golden Rams head to Ohio, ranked 11
th Regionally and 79
th nationally in the latest rankings. West Chester has a 314.9 adjusted scoring average in 22 rounds through 10 Tournaments this year, including eight top-three finishes and six victories.
West Chester won four of five Tournaments in the spring and five of the first six of the year, including a victory at the Sapona Intercollegiate in North Carolina to get the spring season underway in early March. The Golden Rams followed this up with a pair of top-five finishes at the Pawley's Island Beach Bash (fourth) and Patsy Rendleman Invitational (third) before winning the Dr. Edwin B. Cottrell Invitational in early April, ahead of a second-place finish at the PSAC Championships at Berkleigh Country Club last weekend.
At Berkleigh Country Club last weekend, West Chester finished with a team score of 946 (312, 317, 317), just eight strokes back of now seven-time defending Champion Gannon, who is the lone other PSAC program to qualify for the Regional Championships early next week.
Fatima Rizvi (Lucknow, India/RPS Academies) and Hanna Lignell (Gothenburg, Sweden/Kitas Gymnasium) tied for fourth on the team leaderboard with 54-hole scores of +18, including an opening round 76 from Lignell and Rizvi and a final round of 76 from Rizvi, which tied for the lowest round of anyone on the team.
Cara Murphy (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) finished seventh at +23 (80, 77, 82; 239), while
Taryn Brandt (Denton, Md./North Caroline) was eighth at +24 (80, 78, 82; 240), followed by
Morgan Kunze (Limerick, Pa./Spring-Ford), who was 10
th at +29 (82, 82; 81; 245).
Lignell remains the top-ranked individual in the Golden Ram lineup, ranking 215th nationally and 27th regionally, with a 76.4 scoring average and five top-three finishes, including a victory in nine Tournaments during the 2025-26 regular season. Lignell has finished in the top five of each of her last three Tournaments, including second-place finishes at the Pasty Rendleman and Dr. Edwin B. Cottrell Invitationals, along with a fourth-place finish at the PSAC Championships, to finish April.
Rizvi, Kunze, and
Margaux Solis (Houston, TX/Klein), who is available as a sub once again, are also veterans making the trip for West Chester alongside Lignell. Rizvi enters with a 79.3 scoring average and is ranked 84
th nationally with a second-place finish at the Battle at Bulle Rock as her top individual finish of the season. Kunze and Solis enter with virtually identical 80.9 scoring averages, while Solis has a pair of top-three finishes along with a victory at the Battle at Bulle Rock in October to finish the fall slate.
Murphy, who is the lone Golden Ram with experience at Findlay Country Club, having played the course on her own prior to her collegiate career, and Brandt are the only two freshmen making the trip to Ohio this week. Murphy is ranked 64
th nationally heading into the Regional Championships and has an adjusted scoring average of 79.2, with three top-three finishes and a pair of wins in 10 Tournaments, including both the WCU Battlefield and the Millersville Fall Classic to open the fall season. Brandt is ranked 115
th regionally entering the Tournament and has an 80.8 scoring average in 10 Tournaments, including a third-place finish at the WCU Battlefield Classic and two other top-five finishes along the way.
When asked about a final message to his group ahead of Monday's opening round, Merce said, "First and foremost I'm really proud of them for the year that we've had. We played great golf all season long and earned the first At-Large bid in the history of our program, and we will be on two PSAC teams competing this week, so that is definitely something to be very proud of. We will use Sunday's practice round to map out our strategy and talk through everything about the course, so by the time we get out on Monday morning, we feel confident in the plan and just go play golf," finished Merce.
West Chester will begin its Tournament at 9 am on Monday morning on holes 15 through 18 at Findlay Country Club.
