ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Concordia-St. Paul women's golf team opens the 2026-27 season on Monday, September 14 when they host the CSP/MSU Fall Brawl at the Troy Burne Golf Club in Hudson, Wisconsin. The Golden Bears are coming off a season in which they finished third at the NSIC Championships while appearing at the NCAA Central Regional for the first time since 2016.
CSP expects to be at the top of the NSIC once again in 2026-27 while also looking for another trip to the central regional. The Golden Bears return two members of last year's squad while adding five newcomers to the mix.
"A very new roster, we lost three pieces after last year with Piper Hill, Darby Barstad and Rebecca DeLong graduating," Head Coach Peter Maki said. "We've got five newcomers on the women's side and I do anticipate having to do some development to get all of the up to speed and how we do things, but similar to last year very confident that the talent is there and come spring season we'll be ready to roll and be one of the top teams in the conference."
Preseason Poll Results
The Golden Bears were picked to finish third in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll, after receiving a total of 143 points. Minnesota State was picked second in the poll and Wayne State came in first as the defending NSIC Champions with 178 points and 11 first place votes.
Coming off a standout freshman campaign that saw her take home NSIC Player and Newcomer of the Year honors, Addi Wood was named NSIC Preseason Golfer of the Year heading into the 2026-27 season.
CSP is coming off its best finish at the NSIC Championships since a fourth place finish in 2021.
CSP/ MSU Fall Brawl Preview
The Golden Bears open up the 2026-27 season at the Troy Burne Golf Course on Monday, Sept. 14 when they host the CSP/MSU Fall Brawl with Minnesota State. The two round tournament will take place Monday and Tuesday. An 8 a.m. shotgun start is scheduled for Monday morning with a 9 a.m. shotgun start scheduled for round two on Tuesday.
Troy Burne Golf Club was rated as one of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses in Golf Digest from 2017-2020. The course features four par-fives, nine par-fours and five par-threes.
11 teams are set to compete at the Fall Brawl with Upper Iowa, Minot State, Madison College, Sioux Falls, CSP, Jamestown, Minnesota Crookston, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State, UMary and Minnesota State slated to compete.
On the women's side 14 teams are slated to compete with CSP, Minnesota State, St. Kate's, Jamestown, Pittsburg State, Southwest Minnesota State, Wayne State, Upper Iowa, Wisconsin-Stout, St. Cloud State, Minot State, Minnesota Crookston, Winona State and UMary comprising the field.
The Golden Bears managed a fifth place finish at last season's Fall Brawl shooting a collective 314 (+30) in the final round for a two round score of 637 (+29). Minnesota State finished in first place as a team with a score of 599 (+31) across both rounds.
CSP was paced by Addi Wood who shot a 72 (+1) on day two for a two round score of 145 (+3) and a second place finish.
Meet the Team: Returners
CSP returns two members of the 2025-26 team, with junior Ella Matzke and sophomore Addi Wood serving as the veteran members of the squad.
Addi Wood comes into her sophomore season on the back of a stellar freshman campaign that saw her finish second at the NSIC Championships while also leading the conference in scoring average at 76.1 across 27 rounds.
"I don't know if you can have a much better freshman campaign than she had with all the accolades and events that she won and what she did for our program," Maki said. "Addi has also been working super hard over the summer, she always amazes me in her ability to ask the right questions and go about developing her game the right way."
Wood notched eight top 10 finishes with two tournament wins, while also setting new program 36 and 54 hole records, picking up All-NSIC First Team honors in the process.
Ella Matzke competed in all 12 events for CSP last season setting a new career low scoring average of 81.07 across 27 rounds. The sophomore also set a new 54 hole career low of 241 (+25) at the Firekeeper Open and finished 22nd at the NSIC Championships.
"Ella played some nice events over the summer," Maki said. "She's definitely motivated by being a team captain, being one of those leaders on the team and I expect Ella's abilities to keep shining on the golf course."
Meet the Team: Newcomers
With the departure of Piper Hill, Darby Barstad and Rebecca DeLong CSP adds five newcomers to the roster this season. Four of the five are freshmen with Lexi O'Donnell, Addy Timm, Maddy Vang and Hattie Hemthong joining the team.
"A couple of them are going to play right away, they're going to have to play right away and they're going to gain some experience." Maki said.
CSP adds one transfer as well with junior Mila Jenniges coming over from Minnesota State.
Lexi O'Donnell comes to the program after a successful prep career at Elk River High School. Addy Timm from River Falls, Wisconsin is already somewhat familiar with the program as she follows her brother and former men's golfer Trey Timm as a CSP golfer. White Bear Lake's Maddy Vang joins the team as well.
"She [Vang] was the best player on her high school team by far, really good short game, good wedge player," Maki said. "She has all the scoring tools and once we make things a little easier for her, she's really going to help us."
Meet the Coaching Staff
Two new members will join the CSP golf coaching staff with Daniel Gabrio coming on as the new assistant coach and Piper Hill moving from player to coach in a graduate assistant role.
Gabrio joins the staff as an assistant after playing four years of collegiate golf for the Bethel Royals at the Division III level.
"Daniel Gabrio played at Bethel, he also helped me in some of the junior golf camps I run," Maki said. "So Daniel knows how we do things, he is going to be a nice calm presence on the golf course."
Hill wrapped up her four year career with the Golden Bears last spring, finishing with a career scoring average of 79.95, the second best in program history while earning All-NSIC Second Team honors.
Schedule Preview
CSP is set to play in five events during the fall portion of the schedule, starting with two home events at the CSP/MSU Fall Brawl and the The Jewel Invitational in Lake City, Minnesota. The Golden Bears head down to Oklahoma in early October for the Grace Shin Invite hosted by Central Oklahoma, followed by 2026 Central Region Preview hosted by Nebraska Kearney. CSP will wrap up the fall at the Indian Creek Shootout in Omaha, Nebraska, hosted by Wayne State.
"It's a new event hosted by Wayne State and Augustana, a really nice golf course at Indian Creek," Maki said. "It hosts a Korn Ferry Tour event in the summer, so a championship layout, that'll be a nice test after some fall competition to see where we're at and what needs to get better."
Final Thoughts
"The initial goals are going to be the process of getting all the newcomers up to speed on how we do things, so a little less focus on the results," Maki said. "Although if we do things the way we do, the results will take care of themselves and then just setting the tone and building towards that spring season, the women really want to win a conference championship, and follow it up with another trip to regionals."
