With a preseason national ranking of No. 12 in the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Preseason Poll, expectations are once again high for Florida Southern College women’s golf, which will tee off for the first time this year when it heads to LPGA International this weekend. The Moccasins are slated to play in the three-day Lady Falcon Invitational, hosted by Daytona State College, from Friday through Sunday.
The field will include the host, Daytona State, as well as Embry-Riddle, Eastern Florida State College, Stetson, and Tampa. Florida Southern finished second at last year’s Lady Falcon Invitational after Tori Higgins (t-4th) and Loren Perez (t-10th) each finished in the top 10. Leading the pack this year for Southern is senior Amanda Gartrell, who is looking to earn her third-straight all-America nod after earning second-team honors a year ago.
Depth will be a key for the Mocs this season after losing two of their top five from a year ago in Higgins and Madi Wetzel, who combined to play in 21 events and 54 rounds. Robbie Davis, who has been at the helm of the program for more than two decades, will have a young squad this year with Gartrell and Shelby Lewis as the only upperclassmen on the team.
Gartrell, who has also earned two-straight all-SSC honors, enters her senior year as Florida Southern’s all-time leader in career stroke average (75.18) and finished last season ranked No. 18 in the Golftstat individual rankings. She also posted five top-10 finishes, including a win at the Argonaut Invitational, and posted the second-best single-season stroke average in program history (74.39).
She is one of six returning student-athletes who saw action for the Moccasins last season, joining Perez and Lewis as the most experienced returners. Perez played in all 12 events last year and posted four top-15 finishes to end the year ranked No. 58 in the Golfstat individual rankings. Lewis appeared in 11 events and finished in the top-25 four times.
“Loren has a chance to be a big asset for us this year,” Davis said. “If her development is similar to that of Amanda’s, then she’s got a shot to be an all-American. I think all around we can be very strong, specifically at the top of our lineup.”
Hayley Musselman, Hannah Rizzolo, and Nathalie Svensson all gained valuable experience as freshmen in 2018-19, with Svensson seeing the most time on the course with 24 rounds in nine events. New to the team this year are freshmen Lacey Tucker and Sun Hwang. Tucker, the younger sister of FSC men’s golfer Johnny Tucker, and Hwang were each high-school standouts who are expected to contribute right away for the Moccasins.
“Sun and Lacey have a lot of promise for us, they’ll both be in the lineup at times this year,” Davis said. “But really the key for us is depth. We’ll be extremely strong at the top three spots, so finding depth in the fourth and fifth spots will be huge for us.”
Florida Southern is scheduled to play in a total of five events in the fall, with the spring schedule still yet to be finalized.