The girl’s varsity golf team has had a very successful season this year, with a record of 14-2. The team was very successful on their path to state, winning 6th place at conference, 3rd at regionals and moved on to sectionals on Monday, October 7th. Though they didn’t advance to state, the girls took on some of their biggest competitors and won, did much better than their previous seasons and advanced on to sectionals for the first time in DePaul Prep history.

Coach Taylor Lambertsen has been coaching golf for five years and began coaching at DePaul Prep a year ago. She stated that she had seen significant improvement from the players.

“This year we went from shooting in the mid 50s to dropping ten strokes and going into the mid 40s and lower,” she said.

Lambertsen had the girls practicing nearly every day leading up to sectionals, usually by going and playing short rounds at various golf courses. Though the girls didn’t advance to state, Lambertsen said that she has high hopes for the future of the team, and hopes to continue fostering the close bond that the team has developed.

One of the consistent top scorers this season is senior Eva Kennedy. Kennedy has constantly been shouted out each week, whether on the morning announcements or on DePaul Prep’s barstool Instagram account, for her work in the matches. She has done very well this season, from winning a shoot off by one stroke in a recent match, to winning first place at regionals October 2nd with a score of 79(+7). For those unfamiliar with the scoring of golf, this score was the lowest, so it was the winner.

Kennedy has been playing golf “here and there” her entire life but just got serious about it around a year ago, and decided to join the team. Kennedy said “I think having golf in your back pocket and being good at it is helpful in any corporate job.” She hopes to continue playing golf at the collegiate level, and to commit later this year to a college through her golf skills.

Senior Caera Owens has been playing golf since 2020, and has been on the DePaul Prep team all four years. She got into golf through her grandfather who “got me really into it and we would always go to the range together.” Owens said “there isn’t really anything I don’t like about playing golf, you have good days and you have bad days.” She hopes to continue to play golf throughout her college career.

Caroline Hartman is also a senior at DePaul Prep and has been playing golf since her freshman year, and joined the DePaul Prep team in her sophomore year. Hartman said, “My brother played golf and was on the golf team, so I kind of wanted to do what he did.”

Audrey Hoesley is a sophomore at DePaul Prep and has been on the DePaul Prep team since her freshman year. She said she decided to play golf because “It seemed fun and I thought I could meet new people through it.” She said that though it was nice being able to meet new people, it is frustrating if you shoot badley in a match, because it lowers the overall team score.

Emma Skidelsky is a junior at DePaul Prep and has been playing golf since her freshman year. She said that she decided to play golf because “I don’t play any sports in the fall and decided it would be cool and fun to do.”

Jane Redden is a Freshman at DePaul Prep and has been playing golf since she was five years old. She said she was influenced to play golf by her dad and “The main reason I chose DePaul was because of the golf team.” Redden plans to remain on the golf team and hopefully get into the collegiate level.

Although the team didn’t make it all the way to state as they had hoped, the had a very successful season and will hopefully maintain this level of success next year.