Season preview: Girls golf team gets Chesterton 2025-26 athletic calendar underway Monday at Sandy Pines in the Kankakee Invitational

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com
Any sports psychologist will tell you that the brain doesn’t process the negative. So, when trying to drop a shot onto a green hugged by a pond, the worst swing thought is “Don’t hit it in the pond,” because the brain hears “Hit it in the pond.” A better swing thought: “Hit it on the green.” Pond? What pond?
Nobody needs to tell Chesterton math teacher/girls golf coach Pat Ward to avoid the negative. When he talks about why he had his players use 5-woods instead of drivers off the tee at Sandy Pines recently, he didn’t say he did so so that his players don’t hit it into the woods. He did it so that they would hit it onto the fairway. Subtle difference maybe, but subtleties can make a huge difference in golf.
Formerly the boys coach, Ward has taken over the girls program and has brought art teacher/former assistant boys golf coach Adam Schultz back onto his staff as his assistant.
“He’s a good coach,” Ward said. “He knows his stuff.”
Chesterton won the sectional last season and Maddie Soffin, a freshman on Valparaiso’s women’s golf team, won the individual title. The Trojans also lost No. 3 player Chris Driscoll to graduation, but if you think that has Ward hanging his head, then you obviously don’t know the man. Besides, even a pessimist would be excited about having junior Kristin McCoy, an All-DAC golfer in each of her first two seasons, back in the No. 1 slot.
“When Kristin’s out there on the course, she’s very intense,” Ward said. “It’s great. She wants to pretty much rip your head off on the course, which is great to have that intensity out there, someone who’s in every shot, is concentrating on every shot. It’s just fun to see. She’s a competitor, just to have that fire out there is good.”
“Intense” is the last word that comes to mind watching McCoy’s swing. Peaceful, smooth, buttery, yes, but not intense.
“Her swing, she is effortless,” Ward said. “What I’m having to do right now is to dial back the aggressiveness because she wants to hit driver every time. Her driver’s pretty accurate, but her 5-wood, it’s in the fairway every time. And it’s so effortless on the swing right now for her. And she’s been cranking her driver, and her accuracy is probably 85, 90%, which is great but when she’s almost 100% right now with the 5-wood. When the scores matter, it’s better to be in the fairway on the green, 2 putt or 3 putt.”
Ward said McCoy shot a 77, sophomore Taylor Kisic an 83, and junior Genevieve Driscoll “in the 80s” at the practice round.
The Trojans open their season Monday, Aug. 4 in the Kankakee Valley Invitational at Sandy Pines, the first event of Chesterton’s 2025-26 sports calendar.
Ward anticipates as many as a half-dozen players battling for the final two spots behind McCoy, Kisic and Driscoll in the five-player varsity lineup. Based in part on shooting in the 90s at the practice round, seniors Caitlyn Robison and Ella Bollinger get the nod in the season-opener. Junior Liz Dodds and seniors Kenzie Kania, Emery McKiddy and Ella Taylor will be among those trying to play consistently enough to crack the varsity lineup.
In golf, only one goal makes sense: Make the next shot a good one. Yet, asked for a long-term goal, Ward obliged.
“I will be disappointed if we don’t make it to state,” Ward said. “We have a legitimate shot. I want to be in the running to win regionals. It’s going to be tough. We have some area competition, but I think we’re good enough to win, definitely win sectionals, definitely good enough to win regionals.”
Chesterton finished sixth at the Sandy Pines regional last season with a 376, 20 strokes behind the school that earned the third and final qualifying spot for the state tournament.
“We shot a 340 at the practice round and that was a legit 340,” Ward said. “That would have put us in second at regionals (last season). I like where we’re at right now. We’re hitting the ball well. We’re managing the courses. We’re thinking about managing the courses, which is half the battle. Don’t play hero ball out there. Bogeys get you to state.”
Advancing out of the regional round will be tough with the likes of Lake Central, South Bend St. Joseph, Penn and Crown Point in the field. Valparaiso welcomes state-contender-caliber freshman Kennedy Gutierrez, sister of 2022 boys state champion and 2024 runner-up Aidan Gutierrez, into its program. Emerging as one of the three qualifiers represents a steep challenge.
“We’ll be pretty solid. I like the depth,” Ward said with signature optimism. “We should be good. I’m excited for the season. I’m hoping everything falls into place.”