Riding the momentum of three first-place finishes in Fall 2025, including a fourth straight St. Lawrence Invitational title, the Ithaca College women’s golf team hopes to claim its second Liberty League crown after finishing third last year and in a tie for second in 2024.
Despite losing Annika Michel ‘25 and Rheanna Decrow ‘25 from last season, this young and gritty Bombers squad looks to forge its own path and capture its second Liberty League Championship since the 2021 Spring season. With three returning golfers bringing veteran experience and leadership, the team will eye a late-season push in April and late May to bring the hardware back to Ithaca College.
Junior golfer Helena Winterberg mentioned that she is looking to improve on her putting and said that despite the difficulty of only being able to practice indoors during the winter, she and the rest of the group have been tightening things up in the golf simulator.
“The offseason is really hard for us up here because you don’t get that outdoor feel,” Winterberg said. “For me personally, short game is always something I’ve struggled with. So, specifically, I would like to work on just my feel of my putting and chipping more.”
After DeCrow graduated, the current team is left with no seniors, but has two juniors: Winterberg and Abby Bladen, who assistant volunteer coach Sophia Israel says have been great role models and leaders for the first-years and sophomores, both on and off the golf course.
“[Winterberg and Bladen] have really grown into their roles,” Israel said. “They’ve been helping our underclassmen as much as they can, either by doing the quiet leadership or speaking up, or showing them how it’s done if they have questions.”
Out of those impressive underclassmen — including first-year golfer Brianna Morrison and sophomore Annelise Stencel — Morrison had an extremely strong fall season, claiming four individual top-ten finishes in her five events. Her best showing was at the Hamilton Invitational where she shot two sub-80 rounds with a 79 on Oct. 4, 2025 and a 76 on Oct. 5, 2025. Morrison made six birdies that weekend, with five of them coming on the front nine.
Israel stated that the two first-year golfers went through a learning curve and adjustment period in their year of debuting in competitive college golf. She wants the first-years to simply have fun on the course when they are out playing with their team.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve been playing golf since you’ve been born or you started three years ago,” Israel said. “My hope for them is that they just continue to enjoy it. It goes fast, I mean they’re already halfway through their first year.”
After four years of high school golf and her first collegiate season, Morrison claimed that the major difference in her eyes is being a part of a more tight-knit group in college and truly having that teammate aspect during tournaments and matches.
“My high school team wasn’t really connected,” Morrison said. “We had a short season, and then a lot of the tournaments were individual that I played throughout high school. Coming here, I’ve really enjoyed the aspect of bonding, and we’re a really small team, so it’s been nice.”
Along with adjusting to a new team and a different style of competition, Morrison said that she has also had to get used to playing in bigger events with stronger competition. She said that she takes it all in stride during her matches, realizing that she has the opportunity to play for her school alongside a great group of friends.
“I think it’s just the different environment of being in a college tournament,” Morrison said. “It’s really cool seeing all the other teams around you representing all the different schools.”
The team will head down to Florida for its spring break trip in March, looking to get back into form when the spring season starts. Winterberg said that she is looking forward to getting back on the course again and working through the kinks.
“I’m really excited to see how this season turns out,” Winterberg said. “The spring’s always fun because you kind of have to play a little bit of catch up of what you might have lost over the winter being indoors.”
Teaching the players to enjoy themselves all while instilling in them a hard work ethic is the main goal for both head coach Keith Batson and Israel this upcoming season. Israel said that she is honored to work with such a resilient group of women and knows exactly what they are capable of.
“We’re here to be the best team that we can be and be one of the best teams in the league,” Israel said. “We’re one of those teams that, you know, we can bite you if you’re not looking type of deal.”
The Bombers will kick off their season March 28 and March 29, traveling to Poughkeepsie, to compete in the Vassar College Invitational, followed by a quick trip across the road April 11 and April 12 to Cortland, to play in the Martin–Wallace Invitational.