In a perfect world, the Seton Hall women’s and men’s golf teams would be competing at the Big East Championship this weekend and next weekend, respectively. However, as is well known, that plan was derailed due to season cancellations.
For both programs, a chance to build upon a successful fall season has been denied. The women, led by Natalie Desjardins, and the men, led by Clay White, each had formidable rosters and looked to excel in the conference and nationally in the spring. Although a few matches wound up being played, the meat of the season was cut short.
On the women’s side, four seniors will potentially exit the program. Carolina Ronchel Salas, Maddie Sager, Sammie Staudt and Lizzie Win have all been main contributors on the team for four years, especially in the last year and a half, and may have seen their last swing in a Pirates uniform go by without knowing it.
Coming over from LIU-Brooklyn, Ronchel Salas continued her development before solidifying herself in the conference last season, earning 2019 All-Tournament Team and All-Big East Team honors. That year, she had three top-10 finishes and a top-five finish.
Sager was also named to the 2019 All-Tournament team. She was on pace to have another award-laden year, sitting fourth in score-average for the conference through the initial games played.
Staudt was another key cog of the team over four years, playing in 35 of 36 tournaments for the team. She was ninth in Big East score-average so far this season.
The main team leader, Win, was instrumental in her time in blue and white. She brought home multiple awards and even got so far as to compete in WPGA events between seasons.
She came in as a freshman and managed to obtain All-Big East Second Team honors, no short feat in her first season. Win then began to take off in her sophomore season, securing All-Big East Team honors and All-Tournament Team ones as well.
This continued into her junior year as she solidified herself across the country by repeating those two awards. Her senior year began with three top-10 finishes in seven appearances and was surely due to continue racking up awards. Although uncertain if she or any of the other seniors will return, Win and the rest of them can walk away with hardware and impressive playing resumes.
The men’s team potentially loses two players. Alex Chalk and Alex McAuley, both international recruits, will end their undergraduate careers via graduation.
Both Chalk and McAuley played roles over the four years as Pirates, competing in tournaments as early as freshman year. Although behind the depth chart of Pirates legends such as Gen Nagai and others, each put up formidable careers at Seton Hall.
Kevin Kopf can be reached at kevin.kopf@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @KevinKopfHWH.
