Following the departure of former head coach Caroline Powers Ellis at the end of the 2024-25 season, Notre Dame brought in an experienced program builder to lead the women’s golf program to new heights. Breanna Jenco arrived in South Bend after spending 10 seasons as the head coach at Xavier. While there, she was named the Big East Coach of the Year, an astounding six times. Now, her attention has shifted to turning the page for Notre Dame women’s golf.
The program has struggled historically, but that hasn’t changed her goals.
“Ultimately, [assistant coach Brad Karpick] and I would love to get this place to be competitive for NCAA titles,” Jenco said regarding the program’s future. But she knows it won’t be a sudden change. “We’re not going to just wake up and be NCAA champions. So we’re just going to keep grinding, keep our nose to the grindstone, as they say, and chip away at it.”
To start the year, it seemed like more of the same from previous Irish seasons. At the opening tournament, the Wolverine Invitational, they placed seventh with a team score of 41-over-par, and followed up with their highest team score of the season at the Inverness Intercollegiate in Toledo, Ohio, finishing tied for eighth at 66-over and a cumulative score of 918.
Fortunately, things took a turn for the better just two weeks later when the team returned home.
At the Women’s Fighting Irish Classic, the team carded a 7-over 583 on the lone day of competition, which earned it the team win. It meant a little more to the squad that day, as it won at home and secured its first team victory since the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational back in Oct. 2017. Junior Alexsandra Lapple took home the individual title at 3-under, while her freshman teammate Jordan Levitt placed second at 1-under.
Lapple, the lone upperclassman on the team, was a huge piece of the puzzle for coach Jenco as she navigated her first season at the helm.
“I think that was part of the reason she kind of came into her own this year, is, you know, we kind of told her, as the lone junior here, we’re looking for you to fill a leadership role,” Jenco explained of Lapple’s leadership. “She has a huge pull in the locker room with all the girls and is a phenomenal leader. So getting her in kind of got everybody trickling in with her. And she did an awesome job, not only on the buy-in side, but just the team chemistry side of everything.”
Following the home victory, however, the Irish stumbled closing out the fall slate. At the Sunflower Invitational, they finished seventh at 49-over par, carding their second team score over 900 on the season with a 901. Then, they shot two consecutive 33-over 897s to cap off the season’s first half. At the Jim West Challenge, it was good for t-12th, while it earned them 15th at The Landfall Tradition.
After opening the spring with a 27-over 891 to finish tied for 11th at the FAU Paradise Invitational, the Irish started to find their groove again. They rattled off two consecutive top-three finishes, the first a 7-over 871 for third at the Space Coast Classic. Two weeks later, they finished second at the SoCal Spring Invitational with a 23-over 875. Lapple finished in the top five in both events, but she really shined in Southern California, as her 3-under-par finish earned her second individual win of the season.
As a team, Notre Dame struggled a bit more to close the season, but there were still plenty of positives. It tied for eighth at the Briar’s Creek Invitational, 10th at the Maryland Terps Invitational, and ended the season with a tie for 13th at the ACC Championship.
In those closing tournaments of the season, a new face found her footing: sophomore Bridget Wilkie. At the ACC Championship, Wilkie paced the Irish at 4-under and tied for 11th — her best finish of the season in terms of score and placement. Jenco highlighted her resilience throughout the year as a testament to her abilities.
“She struggled a bit in the fall with her game in general, which is just kind of the way golf goes sometimes,” Jenco stated. “Her success at the end of the season was a true testament to all that work that she put in over that off-season. We hope that’s just the tip of the iceberg for what we’re going to see out of Bridget throughout the rest of her career. We hope the fall was kind of her low spot, and she’s going to grow and climb to even greater heights in these next two years.”
Wilkie, along with the rest of her young teammates like Levitt, will look to elevate the program to new heights under coach Jenco in the near future. With the entire team slated to return next season, things continue to look better and better for the Irish. This season may be over, but their ambitions are going nowhere.
