Women's Golf 4/13/2026 10:12:00 AM Jack Belcher - Athletics Communications Assistant

PREVIEW: Women's Golf at GLIAC Championships

Marquette, Mich. -- The Northern Michigan University Women's Golf team is set to hit the course at The GLIAC Spring Championship hosted this year in Augusta, Michigan.

The tournament takes place at the Stonehedge North Golf Course at Gull Lake View Golf Resort, with the initial two-round tournament running from Friday, April 17th, through the morning of Saturday, April 18th. After the initial two rounds, there will be a four-team semi-final match play during the evening on April 18th. The Championship will culminate with a final round on Sunday, April 19th, where match play between the two remaining top teams will determine the GLIAC Champion.

Live scoring for the tournament can be found at Scoreboard by Clippd.

The field contains each of the 8 GLIAC teams, with early favorites for the tournament likely to be GVSU (#2, #17), Ferris State (#5, #37), Davenport (#11, #81), Wayne State (#13, #84), and SVSU (#16, #90). Rankings from the 2025-2026 Spring season.
Rankings from the 2025-2026 Spring season. (regional, national).

About the Course
Golfers who love forested terrain and formidable elevation changes will love Gull Lake View's fifth course, Stonehedge North. Designed by Charles and Jon Scott, Stonehedge North opened in 1995 and has been impressing golfers with its dramatic landscape features ever since. With six par-3s, six par-4s, and six par-5s, the North course is a fan favorite.

Last Time Out:
The NMU women's golf team finished fourth at the UIU Spring Invite, led by T3 performances from Abbie Pietila and Maddy Martens. They played just one round due to the first round being cancelled because of the weather.

NMU shot a +43 as a team to finish fourth. The 'Cats were second in par-three scoring (3.35), fourth in par-four scoring (4.90), and fifth in par-five scoring (5.65). NMU carded three birdies and 36 pars, fourth and fifth-best among the field, while its 38 bogeys were tied for most.

Abbie Pietila and Maddy Martens led the way, posting matching scores of +7 to finish T3. Pietila birdied the par-three fourth to go with nine pars, and Martens birdied the par-five 11th to go with nine pars of her own. Pietila and Abby Luke were T3 in par-three scoring (E), and both Pietila and Martens were T2 in par-four scoring (4.50).

Payton Donnelly was next, finishing T16 with a +12. Donnelly carded ten pars of her own, a number that was good enough for T4 among the field and just two shy of the lead.

Aavra Relich finished T28 at +17, Abby Luke competed as an individual, posting a +20, and Gabriella Moreau a +22 to round out the 'Cats on the field.

Last Season at the GLIAC Spring Championship
The NMU women's golf team wrapped up the 2025 GLIAC Championship in seventh place of nine teams to conclude their 2025 season.

The Wildcats (+84) posted a second-round score of +38, eight strokes better than their first-round score, moving up to finish ahead of Lake Superior State (+90) and Parkside (+106).

As a team for the tournament, the 'Cats played the par threes at +36 (7th), the par fours at +44 (7th), and the par fives at +38 (6th) to go with eight birdies (8th), 75 pars (7th), 69 bogeys (1st). and 26 doubles+ (3rd).

Abbie Pietila finished tied for 27th in the field as she had a strong overall tournament. Both Hailey Bolander and Maddy Martens also finished well as Bolander ended her tournament at +18, a tie for the team lead and a tie for 27th overall. Martens finished third on the team and 32nd overall with her score of +23. Payton Dube rounded out the team scoring with a +29 and 36th overall. Maggie Pietila finished 37th overall.

Notes on the Field / Season Recaps

GVSU - After a strong season, defending GLIAC Champions GVSU enters the women's tournament as one of the favorites to win the title. However, they've struggled a bit during the Spring season, finishing 11th at the Jerry Surratt Memorial Intercollegiate and 12th at the Lynn Invite at Boca Woods. Their strongest performance came at the Findlay Invitational, where they finished in second place.
- GVSU has been led by a trio of golfers this season, all of whom rank in the top-55 nationally. Leading the way has been Charlotte Goersch, ranked fourth in the region. Goersch has been in just two tournaments in the Spring season, finishing 32nd and 36th, respectively. Behind her is the 6th-ranked regional golfer Lea Stotz. Stotz had her best performance at the Findlay Invitational, finishing tied for eighth, and secured a top-30 performance at the Jerry Surratt. She finished 54th at the Lynn Invite. Rounding out the trio of top-55 golfers for GVSU is Freshman June Hsiao. Hsiao has only competed in two competitions this Spring and also finished her best at Findlay in a tie for eighth. She finished 50th at the Jerry Surratt.
Ferris State - The runner-ups of last year's Spring GLIAC Championship come into this year's iteration on a hot streak. In both of their last two competitions at Findianapolis Intercollegiate and the ODU NC4K Classic, they have finished third. They opened their season with an 11th-place finish of 12 teams at the Patriot Invitational.
- The Bulldogs have been led by 30th-ranked Kamryn Shannon (3rd regionally) and 156th-ranked Lizzie Anderson (21st regionally). Shannon has finished in the top 10 in each of her three events this season, including her best performance most recently, where she finished third overall at the ODU NC4K Classic. For Lizzie Anderson, her best came when she finished fourth at the Findianapolis Intercollegiate. Notably, she finished 12th at the Patriot Invitational and most recently 30th at the ODU Classic.
Davenport - Davenport has had a strong season this spring, including a team-best second-place finish at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff. They finished tenth of fourteen teams at Findlay and fifth of twelve at the Flyer Spring Invitational.
- Davenport has a trio of golfers in the top-400 nationally, they are led by Lauren Gervais (#300, #37), who finished sixth at Saddlebrook in her best performance of the Spring. She finished 27th at Findlay and 13th at the Flyer Spring Invitational. Second on the team thus far this season is Ventia Chap (#361, #48). Chap finished top-10 at Saddlebrook, top-50 at the Flyer Invitational and top-45 at the Findlay Invitational. Rounding out their golfers in the top-400 nationally is Thailee Gerding (#397, #55). Gerding's best finish this season was 5th place at the Saddlebrook Spring Kickoff. She finished 51st at Findlay and 35th at the Flyer Spring Invite.
Wayne State - The Warriors have competed in just two Spring tournaments but have performed well in both, and enter the GLIAC Championships with momentum. They finished sixth of twelve at the NKU Julia Invite and second of eight at the Balterra Classic.
- Wayne State's leading Spring performer is top-500 golfer Sonia Bayahya. Her best performance was fourth at Balterra and she paired that with a 16th-place finish at the NKU Julia Invite. Also in the top-500 for them is Clara Laffitte, who has finished seventh in both the invitationals this Spring and has significant momentum going into the Championship.
SVSU - The Cardinals have been hot during the Spring Season as they finished third at Saddlebrook, won their own tournament, finished fifth at the Findianapolis, and sixth at the ODU NC4K Classic.
- SVSU is led by a pair of top-400 golfers in Christina Nagy and Marissa GeRue. Nagy's best performances were sixth at the SVSU Invite and 16th at Saddlebrook. She finished in the top 40 in her other two events. For GeRue, she has been on fire, finishing in the top 15 in each of her four competitions. Her success has been highlighted by a victory at the SVSU Invite and a tenth-place finish at the ODU NC4K Classic.
UW Parkside - The Rangers have performed well in each of their three events this Spring, including a victory at The Upper Iowa Spring Invite. Additionally, as a team, they finished third at the SVSU Invite and sixth at the Flyer Invite.
- UW Parkside is led by its pair of top-500 golfers in Aj Powell and Lily Zicarelli. Powell has been top-10 in each of her three competitions so far, including finishing tied for third overall at Upper Iowa. Zicarelli tied Powell for third at Upper Iowa and finished top-15 at each of her other competitions as both have had strong seasons this Spring.
Purdue NW - The Pride have struggled this season as they have finished at or near the bottom in each of their three tournaments. They finished sixth of six teams at the SVSU Invitational, tenth of twelve at the Flyer Invitational, and 13th of 14 at the ODU NC4K Classic.
- Freshman Brynlee DeBoard has led the way for the Pride as she finished 15th at the SVSU Invite, 29th at the Flyer Spring Invitational, and 68th at the ODU NC4K Classic.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Maggie Pietila: 5' 3"; Senior

Hailey Bolander: 5' 1"; Redshirt Junior

Payton Donnelly: 5' 10"; Junior

Abby Luke: Sophomore

Maddy Martens: Sophomore

Gabriella Moreau: 5' 6"; Senior

Abbie Pietila: Sophomore

Aavra Relich: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Maggie Pietila
: 5' 3"; Senior

Hailey Bolander
: 5' 1"; Redshirt Junior

Payton Donnelly
: 5' 10"; Junior

Abby Luke
: Sophomore

Maddy Martens
: Sophomore

Gabriella Moreau
: 5' 6"; Senior

Abbie Pietila
: Sophomore

Aavra Relich
: Freshman