Wheeling, W. Va. - As they entered the 2025 fall season, the Wheeling University Women's Golf team featured a small roster, that was led by a strong veteran presence. It was that veteran presence that would pace the Cardinals throughout the season, helping lead them back to the team portion of the final round of the MEC Women's Golf Championships. It was a year marked by individual performance, with the two top golfers for the Cardinals pacing the effort.
The year would start out on their home course as the team hosted the Wheeling Invitational September 4th - 5th at the Belmont Hills Country Club. Wheeling would start the year with their lowest two-round team score of the season, shooting an 855 and finishing 6th among the nine teams in the field. It would be a regular season headlined by a challenging conference schedule as the Cardinals battled conference opponents in each of their first four tournaments of the season. After finishing 18th overall at the Golden Eagle Invitational, the Cardinals would post individual results over each of their final three events. The stretch was highlighted by an individual championship at the Pipesteam Classic, and the team headed into the MEC Championships looking to make it back to that third round as a team for the first time since the 2023 season.
From the get-go, the Cardinals would find themselves in sixth place overall in the team standings, holding that spot from the first round all the way until the end. They would shoot 414 as a team on day one, and had one golfer sitting in the top 10 of the event. As the day went on, the Cardinals team standing remained the same, but the team would see their top golfer move up the ladder. Ella Keffer moved to a tie for sixth on day two, and was competing for an individual championship on the final day of competition. The Cardinals would end where they started, sitting sixth overall with a three-day score of 1215, and had their first All-Tournament team member since the 2023 season, as Ella Keffer finished tied for fifth at the event.
It was a big season for Keffer, who paced the Cardinals with the All-Tournament team honor. It was the capstone to what has been a big year overall for the senior, who was the Cardinal's top golfer in each of their six events during the season. She put up an average round score of 80.3 this season across 13 rounds of play and picked up the Cardinal's lone individual event win of the year when she took the top spot at the Pipesteam classic. Coming into the season, Keffe's PR sat at 80 through her first three seasons and she was able to top that number six times during the regular season. Her PR would come at the Pipesteam classic, where she shot her first collegiate par with a 72 that propelled her to her first individual event win. She would cap off the season with an All-Tournament team spot, setting a new MEC Championship PR on the final day with a 79 to finish tied for fourth in the field.
The other top golfer on the season for the Cardinals was Brielle Milhoan, who finished her season with an average round score of 90.0 for the year. She was the second Cardinal to finish in the top 20 of the MEC Women's Golf Championships, improving her score every day. After shooting a 96 on day one, she bounced back nicely with an 86 in the second round, and followed that up with an 89 to round out the day. The final consistent Cardinal golfer was Mallory Bozovich, who continually improved throughout the season. Bozovich's top tournament came at the Pipesteam Classic, where she shot a pair of 107's to beat her old PR by six strokes. She rounded out the year with a career-best finish at the MEC Championships, where she finished 28th across the three-day event.
The Wheeling University Women's Golf team heads into the spring break as they prepare for the 2026 spring season.
