It’s a transition year for the Notre Dame women’s golf program. The Irish, who finished 12th in the ACC Championship and did not reach the NCAA Tournament, lost their two best golfers from the 2023-24 season. The outstanding Lauren Beaudreau, an All-ACC Women’s Golf Team and Division I WGCA All-American Honorable Mention selection, reached the end of her eligibility. Beaudreau became the highlight of last year’s team, claiming 10 top-20 finishes and winning the first individual regional title in program history.
The golfer closest to her elite level of play, Chloe Schiavone, transferred to Virginia. A six-time top-20 finisher and 17th-place ACC Championship golfer, Schiavone often slotted into Notre Dame’s No. 1 or No. 2 position last year.
Remaining are nine golfers — eight of them freshmen or sophomores. Third-year head coach Caroline Powers Ellis has quite the developmental opportunity in front of her. The team’s only senior, Montgomery Ferreira, was a regular in Notre Dame’s competitions last year. Ferreira cracked the top 25 three times, opening her fall season with a 22nd-place effort at the Boilermaker Classic and beginning the spring at 18th in both the St. Andrew’s Collegiate and FAU Paradise Invitational.
What Ferreira offers in terms of experience, sophomore Mimi Burton matches with potential. Though she didn’t end her freshman season on a great note, Burton performed well throughout the fall. Three of her first five competitions ended in a top-25 finish, including a 13th-place result at the Glass City Invitational that led the team. Alexsandra Lapple also returns as a sophomore but cracked the top 40 just once last season. Finally, there’s Anna Heck, another sophomore who only factored into three competitions last year but shined in her debut. Heck carded a 17th-place finish at the Boilermaker Classic to start Notre Dame’s fall season.
To support the sophomore trio, Notre Dame has brought in a freshman class of five. Either Maddy Bante, French product Faustine Errecade, Maya Hunter, Caroline Owens or Bridget Wilkie is guaranteed a spot in the Irish rotation. With such a young roster construction, Notre Dame will inevitably take some lumps this season. However, with freshmen and sophomores taking the necessary steps of progression, the Irish can set themselves up for increased success two to three years from now.
At this point, the Irish just wrapped up their first competition of the season in the Boilermaker Classic at Purdue. Their slate will continue with back-to-back Michigan trips at the Folds of Honor Collegiate (Sept. 9-11) and the Mary Fossum Invitational (Sept. 22-23). In October, Irish travel will expand to the Evie Odom Invitational (Oct. 4-6) in Virginia Beach, Virginia and The Landfall Tradition (Oct. 25-27) in Wilmington, North Carolina.
