Womens Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania

Note:  Mia Kness is the daughter of our tournament director Kim Kness.  Kness is a scholarship athlete for Seton Hall whose team, like others in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, has had their season cancelled.

The 2019-20 Seton Hall women's golf team may go down in history as one of the greatest Seton Hall squads, across any sport, that didn't win the BIG EAST Championship.  The unfortunate difference, however, is that these Pirates never had the opportunity.
 
In the 10 years since the program's inception, no Seton Hall team has stood out from its peers like the 2019-20 group, and that includes teams that won three straight conference titles from 2014-16.  From a Golfstat ranking perspective, The Hall reached No. 54 nationally in the fall, which is the best, by far, the program has even risen.  Upon the season cancellation, the Pirates were ranked No. 86, which is the best they've ever finished a season.  Their closest BIG EAST competition was Xavier, which ranks No. 145.
 
Seton Hall played in seven tournaments this year, four in the fall and three in the spring.  The Pirates registered top-4 finishes in all seven, won the Princeton Invitational, and came in second place three other times.  The Hall's 1-under-par, 283-292-575, at Princeton is the first sub-par tournament in program history and shattered its par-72, two-round record by 15 strokes.
 
Furthermore, for a third straight year, the Pirates set a new school record for team scoring average.  The Hall had never had a team scoring average under 300 for an entire year, until 2019-20 when it crushed its prior record by nearly five full strokes with a 296.15.  The next best scoring average in the BIG EAST was recorded by the Musketeers a 302.38.
 
Fans know that although we have a team element on the collegiate level, golf is largely a solitary game with individuals trying to outduel each other.  The Pirates had significant individual success in 2019-20 as well.
 
Six players recorded at least one top-10 finishes this year, with five breaking into the top-5.  Among all the individual golfers in the BIG EAST Conference, three of the top four golfers by scoring average were Pirates, and six of the top nine were Pirates.  Considering only five start a tournament, having six golfers in the top-10 is an incredible testament to Seton Hall's quality of depth.
 
Ranking second in the BIG EAST Conference with a team-best 74.15 scoring average, junior Mia Kness (Venetia, Pa.) put together the finest year of her career.  She shaved nearly two full strokes off her average from a year ago and collected three top-10 finishes, which includes a 1-under-par, 73-70-72-215, at the FAU Winter Warm-Up and a record-tying 2-under-par, 68-72-74-214, at the Idle Hour Collegiate Championship. 
 
In the first round of the Delaware Lady Blue Hen Invitational on October 19, Kness shot a 7-under-par, 65, which set the Seton Hall single-round record low.  For her efforts, she was twice named BIG EAST Women's Golfer of the Week.
 
Ranking third in the BIG EAST with a 75.05 was senior Lizzie Win (Sylvania, Ohio).  Win collected three top-10 finishes and a pair of sub-par rounds in 2018-19.  Her sixth-place with a 6-over-par, 72-76-74-222, at the Delaware Lady Blue Hen Invitational was her top performance of the year. 
  
Checking in at No. 4 in the BIG EAST was senior Maddie Sager (Phoenixville, Pa.).  Sager averaged a career-best 75.30 strokes per round in 2019-20, and got her first taste of an individual title.  With a 2-under-par, 69-70-75-214, Sager grabbed a share of the Nittany Lion Invitational with teammate Sarah Fouratt (Santa Maria, Calif.).  In all, she had two top-10 finishes during the year and collected four sub-par rounds. 

Senior Carolina Ronchel Salas (Huelva, Spain) finished seventh in the BIG EAST with a 75.45 scoring average for the year.  She had two top-10 finishes, including a fifth-place tie at the FAU Winter Warm-Up with a 3-over-par, 73-71-75-219.  Ronchel Salas had three sub-par rounds.
 
Fouratt finished eighth in the BIG EAST with a 75.57 scoring average, which represents more than a three-stroke improvement from her freshman year.  She opened the year with back-to-back sub-par tournaments, including a share of the Nittany Lion Invitational individual title with teammate Maddie Sager.  She fired a 2-under-par, 74-72-68-214, to share the Seton Hall par-72, three-round record.  Fouratt followed that performance with a 1-under-par, 72-71-143, in helping The Hall to a team title at the Princeton Invitational.
 
Senior Sammie Staudt (Coatesville, Pa.) finished ninth in the conference with a career-best 75.60 scoring average.  She had two top-10 finishes and three sub-par rounds.  Staudt was named BIG EAST Women's Golfer of the Week after tying for second place with a career-best 3-under-par, 68-73-141, at the Princeton Invitational.
 
To further prove the strength of this squad in the annals of Seton Hall women's golf history, if their careers were to end today, Kness would be the program's all-time low in career scoring average (75.24), Ronchel Salas would rank second (75.72), Win third (75.87), Sager fourth (77.10), Fouratt seventh (77.45) and Staudt eighth (77.54).