BEAVER TOWNSHIP — The Youngstown State women’s golf team has one event remaining this spring before heading to Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, and Mission Inn Resort, home of the Horizon League championships.

According to head coach Nate Miklos, who is in his 11th season at the helm, if his squad can finish strong at their upcoming spring invitational this weekend at Avalon Lakes Golf Course, and begin tourney play on a strong note, then anything can happen over the course of the three-day event.

“We beat some really good teams in the fall and played great golf,” Miklos told the Curbstone Coaches during the weekly meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “This spring, however, it has been a struggle. Without using any excuses, injuries haven’t helped and we haven’t been able to put it together like we did when school started.”

In five fall events, the Penguins took top laurels four times with the other a third-place finish (out of 12 teams) at the challenging Penn State Invitational.

This spring, their best finish has been fourth-place (12 teams), that coming at the Howard Lady Bison Invitational in Gainesville, Florida.

Two players, Madie Smithco and Neeranuch Prajunpanich, have authored a top-5 finish giving Miklos an optimistic feeling about their final event and the upcoming league championship.

“Tiam [Prajunpanich] has done a great job as a freshman,” Miklos said. “She had a phenomenal fall but struggled a bit this spring, her first time in the cold weather. We need her to finish strong heading to the tournament while Madie [Smithco] has dealt with multiple injuries.”

Of the eight players that dot this year’s roster, Danae Rugola is a fifth-year student-athlete, Smithco and Titita Loudtragulngam are seniors, Lizzie Saur a junior, Kelly Sutton of Salem is a redshirt sophomore, Chaela Barnett and Rugola’s sister, Adena, are true sophomores with Prajunpanich the lone frosh.

Smithco has played 16 rounds and leads the team with a 73.7 average while Prajunpanich is one of four players who have played all 21 rounds – the other three are Saur, Loudtragulngam and Barnett – authoring a 75.7 average followed by Saur’s 76.2.

Lizzie has had a very strong year and been very consistent while Danae, who is coming off a broken wrist in the fall, has done a great job during her recovery process,” Miklos stated. “While Adena has had an up and down season, she has an amazing attitude and will be right there for us. We need everyone to step up their games these last two events.

“Chaela is an extremely hard worker, has done a great job in the spring and is close to breaking through. She is putting up the numbers she desires while we are looking for Titita to finish on a high note and provide much needed leadership.

“Kelly Hutton is a walk-on, missed time last year and a player who works as hard as any on the team.”

While the squad has played the Mission Inn Resort course in years past, this will be the first time that they are playing its El Campeon course.

“We have one more tune-up before the league tournament and I have started to see some things come together,” Miklos noted. “We must build off this momentum. Oakland University is a team to look out for but this year’s competition is wide open. We have competed against all the teams in our conference, each is solid but anything can happen.

“It’s a wide open competition and we are trending in the right direction. We will spend a lot of time on our short game and whoever gets hot will be the team standing at the end. We just need to take care of our business, put together three solid days of golf and should be in decent shape.”

This year’s Horizon League tournament is set for April 20-22.

Next week, Lowellville native Joe DeRosa, retired NBA and Division I men’s basketball referee, will serve as guest speaker.

Have an interesting story? Contact the Sports Department by email at sports@tribtoday.com. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @TribChronSports.