Harnessing the abilities of an inexperienced roster is never easy, even for an experienced coach like Caroline Powers Ellis. In charge of the Notre Dame women’s golf team for a third season in 2024-25, she oversaw just two seniors in the midst of four freshmen and three sophomores. The team also did not return Lauren Beaudreau, last year’s solo star who captured an NCAA Individual Regional Championship.
Unsurprisingly, the Irish did not play their best golf right away in the fall, but they ended showing progress throughout the academic year.
“Overall, the spring was a huge improvement from the fall,” Powers Ellis said. “I think, overall, the results weren't quite what we wanted, but I think our process and our preparation were definitely on the right track of what we need for the future.”
The first Irish squad Powers Ellis coached in 2022-23 featured five combined seniors and graduate students. The look of this year’s team, with seven underclassmen, was completely different. This was the first time since at least 2007 that a Notre Dame women’s golf team carried four freshman players on its roster, presenting a unique challenge for the program.
Power Ellis called the acclimation of her freshmen the “million-dollar question,” offering a few insights on what she and the team can do to aid the development of young golfers.
“Having them know it’s okay that there’s gonna be a transition period,” she said. “I think the ones that come in and think, ‘Oh, everything’s gonna be great, and I know how to do all these things. I’m not gonna have any issues.’ They’re the ones that get a little bit more rattled by the changes, probably.”
The head coach also noted confidence-building as a major part of her responsibility to the first-year players.
“Everybody in any sport, they’re always the best of where they came from, and then they get to college and you’re surrounded by a really good team and you have a little bit of that identity crisis of, ‘Am I good enough? Do I belong here?’ And that’s our job as coaches to make sure that they understand that they do belong here.”
A couple of Irish freshmen displayed potential late in the fall season. Denver product Maddy Bante led the Irish to a fifth-place finish at the Old Dominion-hosted Evie Odom Invitational by tying for fifth herself. Three weeks later, Toronto native Bridget Wilkie tied for 13th to pace Notre Dame at The Landfall Tradition in North Carolina.
Not only did Bante and Wilkie keep shooting well into the spring, but they also got more help as the Irish wrapped up their regular season with three consecutive top-six finishes. The freshman duo produced a pair of top-10 efforts as the team finished fifth at the Notre Dame Clover Cup in Phoenix. Two weeks after that, sophomore Alexsandra Lapple stepped up to take third as the team claimed third at the Pinetree CC Women’s Collegiate in Georgia. Faustine Errecade, a freshman from France, ended the regular season by capturing 15th at the Maryland Terps Invite.
At the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships in mid-April, the Irish finished 15th and bid farewell to their one series. Montgomery Ferreira, a four-year staple of the program, competed in the postseason event and tied for 60th.
“She was just a great backbone for the team, really,” Powers Ellis said of Ferreira. “It’s a lot of work to be the only senior that has been here for three years, and all the questions are coming to you.”
Notre Dame’s other senior, Maya Hunter of nearby St. Joseph, Michigan, transferred in from Northern Michigan during the 2024 offseason. She didn’t play a whole lot but helped the team in ways not evident on the scorecard.
“I think the value that a grad transfer can bring of having experience somewhere else to help understand how good we do have it here is a really helpful perspective,” Powers Ellis said. “But just her overall energy – she’s super chill, she takes things in stride, she’s really easy to talk to and be around, and so I think just her easygoing energy was something that was so helpful to have.”
Based on their result at ACCs, the Irish have no choice but to improve heading into 2025-26. With a solid and connected young core of golfers emerging, they’re set up well to do just that once the fall season sets in.
