June 5, 2007
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara University women's golf team celebrated the 2006-07 season and handed out its end-of-season awards May 22 at Maggiano's Little Italy on Santana Row in San Jose. The night's festivities also included a highlight video that also featured the team's graduating seniors.
"It was a wonderful banquet and an opportunity to honor the team as well as say thank you to our graduating seniors and team supporters," said head coach Polly Schulze. "Junior Jennifer Sun also did a great job putting together the slideshow that focused on our seniors, Megan Stoddart and Samantha Trask."
Besides honoring the award recipients, the team also recognized its three All-WCC performers from 2006-07, seniors Stoddart, Trask, and freshman Jamie Nonaka, who were all named honorable mention following April's WCC Championship.
Trask was named the team's Most Valuable Player as she became the first SCU golfer, man or woman, to be named All-WCC four consecutive years. On top of earning honorable mention recognition this season and in 2005-06, she was also named to the All-WCC First Team as a freshman and sophomore. Trask also holds the distinction of qualifying for and playing in every golf tournament that the SCU women have been a part of in her four years, and highlighted the season with an even-par round of 71 at Stanford Golf Course during second-round play of the Peg Barnard Classic.
Fellow senior Stoddart was voted the team's Most Inspriational Player, as Schulze noted her positive attitude and encouragement for her teammates despite her own struggles at times. Stoddart, who transferred to Santa Clara from the University of Hawaii prior to the 2005-06 season, was named to the All-WCC First Team that year and concludes her SCU career as the last golfer to win an individual title, having captured the Bronco Fall Invitational title in Boise, Idaho on Oct. 11, 2005.
Rounding out the team honors, Sun took home the Bronco Spirit Award. Her selfless support of her teammates and positive presence on the squad, in addition to taking it upon herself to create the team's highlight show proved why Sun earned the distinction from her teammates.
The Broncos will say goodbye not only to graduating seniors Stoddart and Trask, but also to sophomore Ella Sanman, who will leave the team to study abroad in South Africa next year.
We will sorely miss Ella next year, she's a very solid individual and is everything that SCU wants its student-athletes to represent," Schulze said. "She made us proud and will continue to do so, and we wish Ella all of the best."
"The team is looking forward to our 2007-08 campaign as we are adding some more great talent to the program," Schulze added. "Along with out returning nucleus, we are adding incoming freshmen Katie Sharpe and Miki Ueoka, along with current SCU freshman Kathy Suarez, who has a solid junior resumè. I think we will see some great play from our girls next year and SCU women's golf will undoubtedly make a good run at it."
