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Writer's pictureMatt Spivack

Colorado women's golf season ready for season-opening tournament amid coaching changes


Colorado senior Maria Eidhagen Harrouch tees off. (Photo by CU Athletics/CUBuffs.com)

The Colorado women's golf team has been preparing for months and finally kicks off their season at the Leadership and Golf Invitational on Monday. 


The team hired Madeleine Sheils as their new head coach in July of 2024, yet she will miss the first part of the season due to a personal matter. Assistant coach Mia Landergren, who was also hired earlier this year, will lead the team until Sheils can return. 


Landergren competed on the Alabama golf team from 2013-2017. The team won an SEC championship and appeared in the national championships all four years. She plans to bring the philosophies she learned during her playing days into her coaching style.  


“I think the biggest thing is the preparation… (and) helping them with gameplans," Landergren said.


Despite Sheils being out, Landergren is optimistic heading into the season. 


“Of course, there will be a different dynamic… but she (Sheils) is still very much in the picture," Landergren said. “I think the girls have adjusted great and they have been very supportive and helpful.”   


Although the team has a brand new coaching staff, the roster looks almost identical to last year's, with five out of the seven golfers returning from 2023. The two new roster members are Sydney Givens from Austin, Texas and Ellen O’Shaughnessy from Dublin, Ireland. Both are freshmen. 


Givens, the Texas native, attended Vandegrift High School where she won the 2022 Texas Individual State Championship. The next year she helped lead the team to win the 2023 Texas 6A State Championship, where she finished second in the individual ranking, four strokes behind one of her teammates. 


Going into her first collegiate season Givens knows she has the talent to succeed and has been leaning on her coaches to help her be prepared for the season. 


“(Going in with an) Open mindset, trying to learn everything that I can, " said Givens. “(I’m) trying to take the support system and the coaching staff and their opinions and be as coachable as possible, so I can learn more information and make my game better.”  


Many goals have been set for this team, one in particular. 


“To attend the national championship this year," Givens said. "I think it is a very possible goal. With that being said, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication."


Colorado has a lot to prove if they want to contend with a team like Stanford, who won the national championship in 2022 with Sheils as an assistant coach. 


Being eight months away from the 2025 women's national championship in Carlsbad, California, the nation better be on the lookout for Colorado. But with the season right around the corner, the Buffs need someone to step up and be a leader for this program, if they want to achieve their goal of being national champions.


Who other than the lone senior on the team, Maria Eidhagen Harrouch. 


“As a senior… people look up to you, and you (don’t) need to make people feel like you're the superior," said Harrouch. “If you just show your vulnerabilities and your weaknesses… or sharing your story, being interested, being a good listener, things that are good qualities for (anyone), I feel like is the main thing (to be a leader). 


Harrouch brings a lot of experience to this team as one of the best returners from a year ago. She started her collegiate career at Pima Community College in Arizona, where she was a two-time Junior College All-American. Harrouch was a star at Pima CC and was ready to transition to NCAA Division I golf.


Last year, in her first season as a Buffalo she played 32 total rounds and finished with a stroke average just above 76. 


Now starting her last year at Boulder, Harrouch is on a mission for more.


“My goals are to absolutely win the individual title… and I want to go pro in a year and a half,” Harrouch said. 


With a high standard set for herself, Harrouch has a plan on how to achieve these goals.


“Mainly I focus on the process, " Harrouch said. "One of my goals is to have more fun with golf… and see it as my hobby.” 


Harrouch can take the pressure off herself by going out there with the mindset that she is just playing the game she loves with some of her closest friends. 


Colorado starts the year traveling to Washington for the first two rounds of the Leadership and Golf Invitational on Monday. They will play the third and final round on Tuesday. 


Cover photo by CU Athletics/CUBuffs.com

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