UCLA women's golf coach Carrie Forsyth named Pac-10 Coach of the Year as five Bruins are honored with all-conference team selections
By Chris Nguyen
June 20, 2011 2:45 a.m.
Coming on the heels of its third championship and the school’s 107th, the UCLA women’s golf team received other accolades that come as a result of being the best in the nation.
Coach Carrie Forsyth and various Bruins received individual awards and recognition for their success throughout the season.
Forsyth was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year, a familiar title for her. This is Forsyth’s fourth time being named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Forsyth continues a strong coaching tradition for women’s golf as it is the sixth time that a UCLA coach was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the sport.
Much of Forsyth’s success can be attributed to her commitment to her players on and off the course.
“One of the reasons why I even chose to come to UCLA was because of the coaching,” sophomore Tiffany Lua said. “I tell everyone (Forsyth’s) like my second mom on campus. She really cares about each and every one of us on the team, spending time outside of practice and everything just to make sure we’re okay and on track.”
Her dedication to her players clearly translated to on-the-course success with the ultimate goal of a national championship being achieved.
“She works really hard just to prepare us in all possible ways. She has a really good structure for practices and a really good program,” Lua said.
However, Forsyth wasn’t the only one to receive acknowledgement from the Pac-10, as all five starting golfers received All-Conference honors for their accomplishments.
Lua, junior Stephanie Kono and redshirt sophomore Lee Lopez were named to the All Pac-10 first team, while senior Glory Yang and freshman Ani Gulugian were honored as members of the All Pac-10 second team.
Although it could be expected that the national champions would receive recognition from their conference, the Bruins were humble and grateful for these awards.
“I don’t think anyone really expects any of these awards. It was really exciting for us to win the championship, seeing that all of our hard work paid off. But we just kind of go day by day and work really hard on our games and just hope for the best as a team and individually,” Lua said.
The combination of a devoted coach and talented players effectively led the Bruins down the path to success that culminated in a national championship.
“To have such great athletes as teammates has been really useful for motivation, and it’s just been really fun to practice together and work towards the same goal of playing good golf so all of these perks come with it,” Lua said.
