MSU roundup: Women's golf sweeps Big Ten awards
The Big Ten announced its coach, player and freshman of the year honors Tuesday, and it was a clean sweep for the conference champion Michigan State women’s golf team. Head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll was voted the Big Ten Coach of the Year; junior Sarah Burnham was selected the Big Ten Player of the Year and Allyson Geer garnered Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. It’s the first time in program history the Spartans have won all three awards.
Both Burnham and Geer also earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, while junior Katie Sharp was MSU’s recipient of the Sportsmanship Award.
“It is a very rewarding feeling,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “It is such a good lesson knowing that sometimes when things don’t go your way, you just keep enduring with the people around you, work hard and good things are going to happen. This year has been a perfect example of that. We’ve really jelled as (a) team the last couple of months. Kudos to our team for believing in themselves and the program throughout the year, and for taking the momentum and running with it over the last few weeks.”
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It’s the fourth time in Slobodnik-Stoll’s 20 seasons at Michigan State that she has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year, having previously garnered the honor in 2001, 2007 and 2012. Last weekend, she led MSU to its fourth Big Ten title in the last seven years and sixth during her tenure as head coach.
The Spartans have placed in the top six of each of their last five tournaments. MSU took sixth at both the Central District Invitational (Feb. 20-21) and Briar’s Creek Invitational (March 20-21) before posting its second-best score of the season at the Clemson Invitational (March 31 – April 2), claiming fifth place.
The Spartans got their first tournament title since 2014 by winning the Lady Buckeye Invitational (April 15-16) before overcoming an eight-stroke deficit in the final round to win the Big Ten title last weekend.
Burnham had a big hand in MSU taking home the Big Ten title as she fired a school and conference championships record 9-under-par 63 in the second round. She was the tournament runner-up with a 5-under-par 211.
“It’s phenomenal. Sarah just continues to get better and better,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “Being named player of the year is an incredible accomplishment, and it puts her in select company. We are all thrilled for her.”
Burnham’s 72.17 scoring average is on pace to break her school single-season record (72.42) established last year as a sophomore. The native of Maple Grove, Minnesota, placed second at the Mary Fossum Invitational (Sept. 24-25) with a 3-under-par 213, which was the lowest score ever recorded by a Spartan at the event. She was also the runner-up at the Lady Buckeye with a 2-over-par 218.
She completed the regular season and Big Ten Championships with the highest Golfweek/Sagarin Big Ten player rating (71.94).
Burnham is the fourth Spartan to be named Big Ten Golfer of the Year and first since current assistant coach Caroline Powers garnered the honor in 2013.
Geer is the first Spartan to be named freshman of the year since Dayna Burleigh in 2003. She is the fourth in program history to earn the accolade.
Geer, who signed her national letter of intent in November, joined the Spartans in January and played in every tournament this spring. Geer’s play throughout the spring mirrored that of the Spartans, steadily improving each week. She got her first top-15 finish at the Clemson Invitational with a 1-over-par 217. The Brighton native followed that with a top-five showing at the Lady Buckeye, taking fifth place with a 6-over-par 222.
Geer had her best tournament of the year at the Big Ten Championships with an even-par 216, including 2-under 70 in the final round, to take fourth place.
Her 73.44 scoring average is second only to Burnham on the team. She posted the best Golfweek/Sagarin Big Ten player rating among conference freshmen (72.77).
“Ally had some ground to make up in order to receive this award,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “She has had an incredible run thus far and she’s only getting better and better with each week. We put her in the lineup without any time to adjust and I just give her so much credit for her maturity.”
Sharp was the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award. The students chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the students must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting
She had her best finish of the year at Big Ten Championships, placing fifth with a 2-over-par 218. Sharp placed in the top 16 in each of the last four tournaments, posting a 73.0 scoring average over the span.
The Spartans’ Big Ten title earned them an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. They’ll find out where they’ll be playing when the field is announced live on Golf Channel on Thursday at 11 a.m.
“We still have our two most important tournaments to go this year and we we’re peaking at right time,” Slobodnik-Stoll said.
2017 BIG TEN WOMEN’S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE AND INDIVIDUAL AWARD WINNERS
Big Ten Player of the Year: Sarah Burnham, Michigan State
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Allyson Geer, Michigan State
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, Michigan State
ALL-BIG TEN
First Team
Elodie Van Dievoet, Michigan
Sarah Burnham, Michigan State
Allyson Geer, Michigan State
Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Stephanie Lau, Northwestern
Micaela Farah, Purdue
August Kim, Purdue
Brooke Ferrell, Wisconsin
Second Team
Swing Liu, Illinois
Tristyn Nowlin, Illinois
Sarah Cho, Northwestern
Janet Mao, Northwestern
Jaclyn Lee, Ohio State
Katja Pogacar, Ohio State
Jessica Porvasnik, Ohio State
Covadonga SanJuan, Purdue
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Grace Park, Illinois
Carolina Garrett, Indiana
Jessica Ip, Iowa
Ludovica Farina, Maryland
Grace Choi, Michigan
Katie Sharp, Michigan State
Muyu Wu, Minnesota
Sarah Pravecek, Nebraska
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern
Rio Watanabe, Ohio State
Jackie Rogowicz, Penn State
Marta Martin, Purdue
Emily Mills, Rutgers
Michelle Cheung, Wisconsin
SOFTBALL
Spartans finishes out home schedule with win over EMU
Michigan State closed out its home schedule with a 13-2 victory in five innings over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday afternoon.
MSU rattled off 10 hits in four innings, including two each for Lea Foerster (double, home run, four RBI), McKenzie Long (triple) and Ebonee Echols (two RBI). Jordan Watson improved to 8-4 overall, tossing 2 2/3 innings of relief. Bridgette Rainey threw 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball, striking out two and walking two.
The Spartans, now 25-18 overall, have won four of their last five games.
Eastern Michigan scored twice in the third inning but already trailed by 10 runs at that point as MSU put nine runs on the board in the second inning.
MSU finished with an 8-1 record at Secchia Stadium this season, with its scheduled 16 home games trimmed down to nine after the flooding of the facility caused the move of two home B1G series as well as a home game vs. Michigan.
The Spartans travel to Mt. Pleasant to take on Central Michigan (30-13) on Wednesday.
- MSU Athletic Communications