Nicoson announces first schedule as Lopes’ head coach

Grand Canyon women’s golf under the leadership of the new head coach Brent Nicosonannounced the complete fall and spring schedule for the upcoming season.

The season consists of 12 tournaments, five in the fall and seven in the spring. The Lopes open the season on September 9 at the Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In the fall, the Lopes will travel throughout the Midwest and West, including a stop at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, site of the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur. GCU will also make stops in Fort Collins, Colorado, as well as Lawrence, Kansas, and Kapolei, Hawaii.

The spring schedule begins Feb. 15-17 in Palm Desert, Calif., before the annual GCU Invitational at GCU Golf Course on Feb. 24-26. The Lopes will then play four tournaments in a three-week period with stops in La Quinta, Calif., on March 10-11 and three consecutive tournaments in their home state in Sedona (March 14-16), Tempe (March 28-30) and Maricopa (April 2-3).

The Lopes will also stay close to home for the WAC Championship, which will be held April 14-16 at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, just outside Phoenix.

GCU returns four Lopes in Sloane Bayer, Amelia Curtis, Brenna Preap And Lena Tremouillefrom a 2023-24 season in which the team won five team titles. The Lopes added five transfers, including Calynne Rosholtwho previously played for Arizona State and participated in an NCAA regional tournament in 2023.

The transfer group also includes All-Americans Anci Dy and Jess Raines, who played under Nicoson and won the NCAA Division II national championship last season at UIndy. Alyzzah Vakasiuola is a local recruit from Mesa Community College, where she earned multiple All-American honors with the Thunderbirds while Matilda Samervong will compete for the first time as a college golfer from Linköping, Sweden.