Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Sweep 2015 Big Ten Women's Golf Awards
4/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's Emily Fletcher is the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time in five seasons, Hannah Kim is the Player and Freshman of the Year and five Wildcats earned All-Big Ten distinction, the Conference announced on Tuesday. The five All-Big Ten honors for Northwestern are a program record, eclipsing the four earned last season. Over the last three seasons, the team has piled up 11 All-Big Ten awards.
In addition to capturing all three major awards, Kim, junior Suchaya Tangkamolprasert and sophomore Kacie Komoto earned First Team All-Big Ten recognition, while senior Hana Lee and junior Kaitlin Park were named to the Second Team. Komoto was selected as the squad's Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Fletcher has guided Northwestern to six consecutive NCAA Regionals, and back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances in 2013 and 2014. She earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor in 2011, the first in Wildcats history, and added a second in 2013 while leading the `Cats to their first Big Ten Championship. This season she piloted Northwestern to three tournament victories, including the second Big Ten title in three years, and what is currently the best team stroke average in program history (293.07).
Kim burst onto the collegiate scene in her rookie campaign en route to becoming the first Big Ten Player of the Year in school history, and the third Big Ten Freshman of the Year from Northwestern. The Chula Vista, Calif., native leads the `Cats in scoring average (73.39, currently a program record), rounds played at par-or-better (12), Top-3 finishes (3), Top-10 finishes (5) and Top-20 results (7) this year.
This season marks the first First Team All-Big Ten recognition for junior Suchaya Tangkamolprasert and sophomore Kacie Komoto. Tangkamolprasert, from Bangkok, Thailand, ranks second on the squad in scoring and picked up her fourth Top-10 result of the season last weekend at the Big Ten Championships, finishing ninth. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Komoto earned Second Team All-Big Ten laurels last season as a freshman, and currently ranks third on the team in scoring average and shares second with four Top-20 finishes this year.
Senior Hana Lee and junior Kaitlin Park are the third and fourth Wildcats in program history to earn three All-Big Ten honors in a career, and the first since Elizabeth Burden in 2003. Both were named First Team All-Big Ten in 2013 and 2014.
Komoto was selected as the Wildcats Sportsmanship Award recipient, an honor given one student-athlete from each Big Ten institution to have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these honorees must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
The No. 15 Wildcats open pursuit of their third straight appearance in the NCAA Championships at the Raleigh Regional from May 7-9, the program's sixth consecutive NCAA bid.
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Emily Fletcher, Northwestern
Big Ten Player of the Year: Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Hannah Kim, Northwestern
First Team All-Big Ten
Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert, Northwestern
Jan Chanpalangsri, Ohio State
Katja Pogacar, Ohio State
Elizabeth Tong, Indiana
Juliet Vongphoumy, Maryland
Gabby Yurik, Michigan State
Second Team All-Big Ten
Hana Lee, Northwestern
Kaitlin Park, Northwestern
Brooke Ferrell, Wisconsin
Aurora Kan, Purdue
August Kim, Purdue
Marta Martin Garcia, Purdue
Jessica Porvasnik, Ohio State
Rio Watanabe, Ohio State
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