The Fox Chapel Area girls golf team got off to a good start this season, winning its first four matches, including its section opener.
Then again, that is par for the course (pun definitely intended) for a team that has won six consecutive section championships and WPIAL championships in 2010 and 2021. Many key contributors return from the 2023 team that amassed a 13-2 record (10-0 in WPIAL Class 3A Section 4) and qualified for the WPIAL playoffs.
A new coach, Jon Koteski, will guide the team this year. The squad returns five starters from last season, including sophomore Clara Koteski, the individual section champion in 2023, who qualified for the WPIAL tournament.
“As a freshman, that was pretty exciting. I don’t even think she saw that coming,” the coach said. “She doesn’t take it too seriously. She likes to play.”
Other returning starters include seniors Gabrielle Devita and Baustin Bitar, a member of Fox Chapel Area’s 2021 WPIAL championship team. Coach Koteski praised that duo and fellow senior Riley Francis-Perka for their leadership.
“I can’t be more proud of them for what they’re doing to bring along these younger girls,” coach Koteski said.
Juniors Ava Calandra and Morgan Monteverde also started in 2023.
Others on the varsity roster include sophomore Abigail Freyvogel and freshmen Brooke Leone and London Bitar, Baustin’s younger sister. Their brother, Barron, is a freshman member of the boys team, and another member of this family of golfers, Scott, is a graduate who won the WPIAL championship in 2019.
In 2023, the Foxes finished sixth at the WPIAL championship. Obviously, the coach would like to see a higher finish this season.
“Our goal is to win it this year,” coach Koteski said. “The girls are working hard at it. With the returning talent that we have, it’s a possibility that we can do it.”
Coach Koteski has seen a lot of consistency from his team in the early going. In a recent match against Indiana, each of the five girls shot in the 40s, and the team won by a whopping 113 strokes.
Something quite helpful to the program is a junior varsity program that was established last season.
“We have 12 or 13 JV matches this year, which is tremendous,” coach Koteski said. “That gives a lot of people the chance to play, whether at the varsity level or the JV level. Getting that experience at the JV level in head-to-head competition will really pay dividends at the varsity level.”
In coach Koteski’s eyes, a key to having another successful campaign will be quality play in the short game, which he said has become the team’s mantra.
“We’ve been really working on putting and chipping,” the coach said. “We’re trying to find two to three shots per nine holes for each player just by putting better and chipping better. They know they have to put the work in, but they don’t think too much about the intensity of it. They try to go out and have fun. When you’re having fun and playing loose in golf, that’s usually when you score some of your better scores as opposed to being uptight and trying to do something that isn’t natural.”
But the coach said it is a hard-working group that realizes the importance of the offseason.
“They’re pretty dedicated,” coach Koteski said. “Almost every girl on the team plays in tournaments throughout the year that aren’t affiliated with the school. They practice on their own, take lessons on their own.”
It’s that dedication, coach Koteski feels, that will go a long way toward another successful season on the links.
