WAYNESBURG, Pa. (August 28) – The Waynesburg University women's golf team commences its 2025-26 season at the Thiel Women's Invitational on Sept. 6.

2024-25 Season Review: The Yellow Jackets finished ninth at the Presidents' Athletic Conference Fall Championships and sent three individuals to the PAC Spring Championships last season.

"The women's team had a solid season in 24-25 despite facing scheduling challenges throughout," said fifth-year head coach Mike Cipoletti. "Our roster was thin with only five, and all of the ladies had challenging academic schedules. Nevertheless, we thought they had some great individual performances and showed a lot of grit in competing with a limited line-up. Maeve Hanley had another good season, capping it off as Waynesburg's first ever woman to earn CSC Academic All-District honors. Abigail Noble had a great freshman season even though she was coming off a wrist injury that limited her preparation in the summer and early fall."

Waynesburg competed at seven regular season tournaments and the 72-hole PAC Championships. The Jackets concluded their season ranked 51st in the region.

Key Returners: Waynesburg returns three players to the lineup for the upcoming season.

Senior Maeve Hanley (Punxsutawney, Pa. / Punxsutawney) led the Jackets in scoring average and finished a team-best 31st on the individual leaderboard the PAC Championships. She fired a season-best 97 in a late-season match against Wheeling.

"Maeve has been the women's team leader for the last three years and she's been a starter from day one," said Cipoletti. "She's a model student-athlete – excellent in the classroom with a difficult major and always ready to compete on the course. Maeve works, completes nursing clinical hours, achieves Dean's List grades, and captains the team. She has an excellent short game, and when she is consistently hitting her drive and long irons, she can compete with the top-15 in our league. We expect the usual from Maeve on the course and in the classroom this season. Maybe more important will be the mentor role she will play for our five freshmen. We couldn't ask for a better example to lead the newcomers.

Sophomore Abigail Noble (West Alexander, Pa. / McGuffey)returns after playing in 10 events as freshmen and finishing 33rd at the PAC Championships.

"Abigail finished last season in great form and we believe she will continue to improve and become even more comfortable handling the schedule challenges throughout the season," said Cipoletti. "Last season, we felt her wrist injury robbed her of some strength and power, especially during the fall. We think she's fully healed now and her power with the drive and the longer clubs is getting back to where she will be able to compete in the top-20 of the PAC. Abigail, like Maeve, is an excellent student and role model for the freshmen. She has a very demanding schedule again this year, but we know she can handle anything that is thrown her way."

Senior Kalista Friday (Woodsfield, Ohio / Monroe Central) is a women's basketball standout for the Jackets and looks to rejoin the squad in the spring semester.

Newcomers: Waynesburg welcomes a five-woman freshman class of Emmarson Anderson (Beaver Falls, Pa. / Blackhawk), Leigha Clapper (Bellwood, Pa. / Bellwood-Antis), Avery Davis (Waynesburg, Pa. / Waynesburg Central), Lexi Schmadel (Lewisburg, Pa. / Lewisburg) and Allison Wolling (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park).

"This is the most talented and largest recruiting class we've had for the women's team during my time with Waynesburg, so we're very excited about the potential for this group," said Cipoletti. "All of the freshmen have experience playing important roles on their high school golf teams, and all of them competed in other sports. A few of these ladies have post season experience as well as junior tour rounds, so they will each be capable of playing meaningful rounds of college golf from week one. We love the work they are putting-in so far at the training facility – they are driven and extremely coachable."

Looking at the Schedule: Waynesburg has six events on its schedule before playing at the PAC Fall Championships at Avalon Lakes' Squaw Creek Course on Oct. 13-14.

Waynesburg plays invitationals at Thiel, Saint Vincent, Franciscan and Grove City ahead of their championship run.

Last Word: "We have high hopes for improvements in scoring averages and team finishes for 25-26," said Cipoletti. "We're going to attempt to balance a smooth transitioning of the freshmen group into solid, college student-athletes while also asking them to contribute to the starting line-up every week. We feel really good about our team leadership with Maeve and Abigail, and we're looking forward to them together with these talented newcomers."