The Saint Mary’s College golf team demonstrated why they are ranked among the top five teams in all of NCAA Division III through their outstanding fall season. The autumn season, proving to be highly successful, was capped off with the program’s fifth MIAA Championship and the College’s first conference title since the golf team accomplished the feat in 2005.
After opening the season against top NCAA Division II and Division III teams, the Belles demonstrated that they would be a team to beat. This year, they climbed in the polls from a pre-season number thirteen reaching as high as a number two according to Golfstat.com.
The Belles began the fall season with a second place finish behind Division II powerhouse University of Indianapolis at the Trine Invitational. The team then followed up with a third place finish against the top 10 teams in NCAA Division III at the O’Brien National Invitational, which Saint Mary’s hosted.
From then on, the Belles went on a tirade against their competition. Just ten days after winning the first MIAA jamboree of the season with a school-record 317; it was also the lowest 18-hole conference round by a Belles squad. The team asserted themselves as one of the best teams in the region as well as the conference by taking first place at the DePauw Small College Classic. The Belles went on to win the next two MIAA Jamborees as well as a shortened MIAA Championship round to finish out the season. The Belle’s five team wins on the season was more than any other top ten team in NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA.
Strong season long team efforts, which resulted in a score lower than 330 in each round, were coupled with several impressive individual performances. Martyna Mierzwa had a breakout rookie season in which she was a medalist or co-medalist five times. She also claimed All-MIAA First Team, season medalist, and MIAA Most Valuable Golfer honors on the season while being ranked as the top golfer in all of Division III by Golfstat.com at the end of the fall.
Complementing Mierzwa were Mary Kate Boyce, Natalie Matuszak, Rosie O'Connor, and Perri Hamma. Boyce and Matuszak joined Mierzwa on the All-MIAA First Team while O'Connor was an All-MIAA Second Team selection for Saint Mary's. All four were named to the All-Tournament team at the MIAA Championships. Hamma, meanwhile, helped the Belles get the ball rolling early in the season with the best round of her golfing career at the team’s first win of the season when she shot a 79.
With their fifth MIAA title in hand, the top-five nationally ranked Belles will look to make a repeat appearance in May’s NCAA Division III Championship and clinch the program’s highest national finish.
