FRISCO, Texas – On Thursday morning, the Southland Conference announced the 2026 Women's Golf All-Conference Teams along with its superlative awards with HCU placing five student-athletes on the all-conference squads while
Ploy Makmanee was named Golfer of the Year,
Sara Pihlajamaki was named Freshman of the Year and head coach
Jordan Jeffers was named Coach of the Year.
Makmanee, just a sophomore, now adds to her trophy collection after being voted HCU's first-ever SLC Freshman of the Year in 2025. The Golfer of the Year honor is a first for HCU and comes following a season in which she posted a scoring average of 74.5 with a pair of top-three finishes. In the fall, Makmanee fired a -2 at the Texas Tech Red Raider Invitational to place second and finish one stroke off the lead. Three weeks later, she placed third at the New Mexico State Golf Iconic Classic, shooting -7 across three rounds. Makmanee is ranked 437 nationally, best in the Southland Conference.
Pihlajamaki makes it two years in a row for an HCU golfer to garner SLC Freshman of the Year honors coming off her dominant five-stroke victory at the 2026 SLC Championships. Pihlajamaki earned her spot at an NCAA Regional with the individual title, firing two rounds under par and one even par across her three rounds at the tournament. The freshman is ranked 822 nationally and owns a scoring average of 75.36 and a win/loss record of 459-314-31.
Jeffers earns his first SLC Coach of the Year honors, joining
David Shuster (2017, 18) as HCU coaches to garner the award. In year three at the helm of the HCU women's program, Jeffers guided the Huskies to a national ranking of 136, nearly 50 spots better than the next SLC program in the rankings. HCU posted six top-3 finishes in 11 tournaments and finished in the top-5 eight times. As a team, the Huskies finished the year with a scoring average of 297.45, best in the SLC and the lowest in program history. HCU ended the year with a win/loss record of 83-47-2.
Makmanee and Pihlajamaki both also earned first team all-SLC honors and are joined as first team selections by teammates
Alejandra Ferrer and
Alyssa Stewart. Ferrer closed out her senior year with a scoring average of 75.38 and a win/loss record of 320-218-19. Stewart, meanwhile, recorded three top-3 finishes with a scoring average of 75.00 and a 482-296-26 win/loss mark. The two are presently ranked 723 and 724, respectively.
Hailey Hendershott was selected second team all-SLC, posting one top-3 finish with a scoring average of 76.27 and a win/loss of 373-321-27.
