BEREA, OHIO –The Baldwin Wallace University women's golf team is hoping for an encore performance as it will look to earn its third straight Ohio Athletic Conference championship and its third straight trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Head Coach Alyson Campbell will welcome back five starters who all were named All-OAC along with two other letter winners and a pair of freshmen.

The Yellow Jackets had an outstanding season a year ago. Campbell's squad finished with a 59-42-1 record while playing the most competitive schedule in the program's history. BW captured four tournament titles (in 12 events), including the 2012 OAC title and placed 16th at the 2011 NCAA Division III National Tournament.

"We had a great season and the only thing better than the success that we achieved was the fun we had as a team while doing it," said a smiling and jovial Campbell as she thinks about the possibilities ahead. "It was a combination of both good play by our student-athletes and the maturation process of our entire team. Everyone on our eight-player roster was a big part of the team. We accomplished our goals together."

So, what does Campbell think about the possibility of a three-peat in 2012-13.

"It is certainly possible," said Campbell. "We return our entire starting lineup and have others pushing the top five for their spot," continued Campbell. "Individually, we return four players who have earned medalist honors at one tournament or another the past two years and overall have seven letter winners back."

And, even though Campbell returns a ton of talent, she knows that each student-athlete needs to continue to improve if BW is to win a third straight OAC crown.

"It [winning a third straight title] will be tough," said Campbell, the OAC Coach of the Year in 2010-2011. "The OAC is a strong conference for women's golf with Otterbein [University) and Ohio Northern [University] very good teams and both Mount Union [the University of] and John Carroll [University] much-improved and getting better all the time.  It just tells us that we have a great challenge ahead and we can't become complacent at all.  And, we look forward to that challenge too."

Leading this year's squad will be seniors Rebecca Kapusta (Independence) and Brooke Hamilton (Cleveland/ St. Joseph Academy). Coach Campbell will lean on these two for leadership and strong, veteran play.

Hamilton carries a 3.95 grade average in English and philosophy, was an "Elite 89" nominee at the 2012 NCAA Division III National Golf Championships, earned CAPITAL ONE Academic All-America honors,  is a two-time All-OAC and Academic All-OAC selection and was a NGCA (National Golf Coaches Association) Scholar-Athlete. As the number-four player, she played in seven spring tournaments and averaged 85.71 strokes in 14 rounds of 18 holes, including tying her career-low of 79 twice at the Div. III National Tournament (third and fourth rounds).

Kapusta, a special education major who carries a 3.87 grade point average, is a 2-time All-OAC, 2-time Academic All-OAC and NGCA Scholar-Athlete. She was the No.3 player last season and averaged 86.6 strokes. She highlighted her season by shooting a career-low 77 at the Trine (Ind.) University Tournament to earn medalist and subsequent OAC Player of the Week honors.
 
"Brooke and Rebecca are very talented student-athletes who lead by-example every day by the way they conduct themselves in the classroom and on the golf course," said Campbell. "They are excellent role models and emblematic of the NCAA Division III philosophy. Having each return with three years of experience, including two straight national tourney appearances is huge."
 
Joining Hamilton and Kapusta as the top returning players are juniors Emilee Woolf (Ravenna), Miranda Cunningham (Dayton/ Christian), Rebecca Jones (Hiliard/ Darby) and Sarah Allred (Akron/ Green). All four are solid players who each have the talent to be a medalist.

Woolf is a 2-time All-OAC player and BW's No.1 player the past two-plus seasons. Last season, she led the team with an 84.64 stroke average. Twice she has been a tourney medalist and twice OAC Player of the Week.  Cunningham, the No.2 player, was second on the team in stroke average at 85.29. She shot a season-best 80 during the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Jones, who averaged 88.21 strokes to rank fifth last spring, battled with Allred, who averaged 89.88 strokes, for the final spot at the national tournament. Each player adds strength and depth to the lineup. Jones also earned All-OAC accolades.
 
"Emilee and Miranda are very strong players and an integral part in our success last season." said Campbell.  "And, Rebecca and Sarah also were key players who made a huge impact and showed strong improvement a year ago."

Campbell feels blessed to have six of the OAC's most talented performers.

"Each one of our top six has the talent and ability to be the OAC medalist this year," continued Campbell. "There are a number of very talented players returning in the OAC this season and we feel that we have at least six of the best.  We are grateful for their outstanding talent, ability and strong leadership."

Rounding out the group of returning veterans is senior Sarah Terrill (Cuyahoga Falls/ Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy), who averaged 102.86 strokes last fall but missed the spring season.  She had a career-low 98 at the BW Invitational.

In addition, Campbell welcomes a pair of freshmen to her roster in Sabre Adkins (Dublin/ Coffman) and Laura Vidmar (Willoughby/ South). Adkins was a 3-time All-Ohio Capital Conference performer and Vidmar was a 2-time All-Premier Athletic Conference and 2-time All-District player.
 
"While Sarah (Terrill) may not have been among the top six, she is an outstanding team member who has made great strides toward improvement and is always willing to do whatever she can to help the team," said Campbell. "Every team and every coach needs teammates like Sarah. We are looking forward to having her back this fall.

"We don't know a great deal about our freshmen yet, but we will soon," said a smiling Campbell. "We know that they arrive with the talent and ability to compete. That's definitely a plus. With Brooke, Rebecca (Kapusta) and Sarah (Terrill) all being seniors, we will need to continue to build for this season and into the future and we think that both Sabre and Laura can help us do it."

BW opens the season on Saturday-Sunday, September 8-9 when it travels to Granville, Ohio to compete at the Denison University Invitational Tournament. During the fall season, the Yellow Jackets will play in five events and a toyal of 10 rounds. The season will continue in the spring with the annual Spring Break Trip, five more tournaments and culminating at the 2013 OAC Championships. The winner of the OAC tourney receives an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament.

FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 or 5906 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.BWyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.