The goal is clear-cut. USF women's golf coach Erika Brennan said she believes her team is capable of qualifying for the NCAA Regionals and earning the program's first postseason bid since 2012.

"We finished strongly in the fall and this team is going to get better and better,'' Brennan said. "We're in the right kinds of tournament fields. We're going to see a lot of good competition, which will help us from a strength of schedule standpoint. Now we just have to go out and do it.''

The Bulls, who begin the spring season Monday in the FAU Paradise Invitational at Boca Raton, will rely on a lineup featuring junior Melanie Green, one of the best USF women's golfers in recent history, along with some improved returners and two standout transfers.

"I am very excited about this team,'' said Green, an American Athletic All-Conference performer in 2022, when she set a single-season program record for scoring average (71.97) and qualified for the NCAA Tallahassee Regional as an individual. "We have gotten better every year I've been here and the chemistry has gotten better, too. We don't have to do more than we're capable of. There's a lot of talent on this team.''

That talent was bolstered by the addition of transfers Lauren Heinlein (Kansas) and Alizee Vidal (Kennesaw State).

Heinlein, from Ocala Forest High School, considered USF out of high school, but wanted an out-of-state school and signed with the Jayhawks. After four seasons at KU, which included a second-place finish at the Lone State Invitational and a program-record 54-hole score of 206 (10-under), she entered the transfer portal and came home for her final season.

Vidal, a native of France, was last season's Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament individual champion (5-under 211) and qualified for the NCAA Tallahassee Regional as an individual (where she played alongside Green). Vidal finished 12th in the event, firing a 4-over.

"Sometimes with transfers, you're taking on some baggage or rolling the dice,'' Brennan said. "But these two (Heinlein and Vidal) immediately assimilated to how we do things in this program — culture first, people first, scores secondary. We figured out that we actually get better golf scores when we put those things in the right order.

"Lauren is incredibly long off the tee. Her ball-striking is very, very strong. And with Alizee, we knew the scores and once we found out more about her, it was a great fit. She's a really nice human off the golf course. But make no mistake, when she gets inside the ropes, she wants to step on your throat. So, with those two, combined with MG (Green), that's a really good 1-2-3 punch there.''

Green's contributions are unquestioned — and she's hoping to take her game to an even higher level.

"MG has had a really renewed focus on her short game, specifically her putting, and that's what's going to unlock those deep red numbers for her,'' Brennan said. "Her ball-striking is awesome and she's just a tough person to beat mentally.

"I think last season (when she qualified for the U.S. Women's Open as an amateur) added more fuel to her fire. She's so intrinsically motivated, so this isn't a kid who needs to be pushed. She's crystal-clear on her career aspirations beyond USF and what she needs to do to get there. She's also very team-oriented, so I know she's going to be a good leader for this team.''

Brennan said she expects contributions from freshman Emma Kim, along with sophomore Juliana Camargo and sophomore Leonor Medeiros, who fired a final-round 70 in the AAC Championships when filling in as an alternate.

"We need consistency and we can't take our foot off the gas this spring,'' Brennan said. "It has to be hammer-down the whole time, but I think we have the talent and the mentality to answer that challenge.''

"I see a lot of hard workers here,'' Heinlein said. "I see a lot of girls who want to be a regionals-bound team. If we play to our potential, I think we have great things ahead.''

– Go Bulls –