Promising Future Ahead for Women's Golf

ATLANTA – A season that started with a new coach for the first time in 20 years and a great deal of promise came to an abrupt end on a Thursday afternoon for not just the Panthers, but the sports world.

Jessica Steward became just the second head coach in program history last summer following the retirement of Cathy Mant. Steward brought a great deal of success from her previous stop at Lamar and with the addition of the new practice facility at Bobby Jones Golf Course, was excited to get the season underway.

"I was excited from day one of arriving on campus because I knew the history of Georgia State as well as the vision of what President Mark Becker and Director of Athletics Charlie Cobb want to do for the program. It was great to come in, meet the team, and get going on the season."

The Panthers welcomed three newcomers to the roster in freshmen Jenny Marston and Lauren Newhouse, along with junior transfer Courtney Lewis. Marston made an immediate impact tying for 35^th at the season-opening USA Intercollegiate while Emma Berlin and Maria Blasco finished among the top 20.

Marston led the Panthers again with a tie for 26^th at the Lady Paladin Invitational as in five of her first six collegiate rounds she shot 75 or better.

After the team earned a 10^th place finish at the FIU Pat Bradley Classic, the Panthers finished the fall with a strong tie for seventh at the Idle Hour Collegiate Championship hosted by Mercer. Senior Harmanprit Kaur started to return to form with a tie for 18^th and Berlin tied for 21^st for her third top 30 finish of the fall.

"We had some good rounds in the fall, we just couldn't put it together for an entire tournament," Steward said. "Everyone on the team could see we were making great progress, so at that time, I hoped we could carry some momentum over into the spring."

After a couple months of practice and adding new assistant coach Ket Vanderpool to the mix, the momentum definitely continued at the Amelia Island Collegiate. The team tied for fifth-place after shooting a final round 1-under 287, which happened to be the lowest round for Georgia State in 4.5 years. Junior Chloe Howard tied for eighth shooting a final round 3-under 69 on her 21^st birthday, while Marston finished in 11^th place.

The momentum continued into the River Landing Classic where the Panthers tied for seventh as Kaur, Marston, and Berlin all finished among the top 25. It gave Steward and the team hope heading into the final two regular season events, including the annual John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate.

Unfortunately, on March 12 while the team was practicing, the season came to an end due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The spring season really began with so much promise for us," Steward said. "I thought by the time we made it to the Sun Belt Conference Championship in Daytona Beach that we would have a team capable of competing with anyone in the league. Everyone had truly made leaps and bounds in their play since the start of the year and we were excited to head to Arizona in mid-March to compete against a really good field.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. However, I know every player on the team understood how much better they had gotten this year and I hope that we can continue that momentum when the fall season opens up next year."

Berlin finished the year with a team-best 74.83 scoring average, the eighth-best in program history, and also topped the team with three top 25 finishes and five round of par or better.

Marston's 75.16 scoring average was second on the team as the newcomer would have been a strong contender for Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year honors.

Hopefully with the talent returning to go along with welcoming another talented recruiting class the Panthers will be able to start the 2020-21 season in early-September and put up some record-setting numbers and start a run to a return to NCAA Regional play in 2021.

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Players Mentioned

Emma Berlin: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Maria Blasco: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Chloe Howard: 5' 8"; Junior

Harmanprit Kaur: 5' 7"; Senior

Jenny Marston: 5' 3"; Freshman

Courtney Lewis: 5' 7"; Junior

Lauren Newhouse: 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Emma Berlin
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Maria Blasco
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Chloe Howard
: 5' 8"; Junior

Harmanprit Kaur
: 5' 7"; Senior

Jenny Marston
: 5' 3"; Freshman

Courtney Lewis
: 5' 7"; Junior

Lauren Newhouse
: 5' 10"; Freshman