Hartford Courant (Sunday)

UHart senior Loza heads to Columbus for her first DI women’s regionals

- By Sara Tidwell

On top of final exam week and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineerin­g, University of Hartford golfer Maria Loza is scheduled to be in Columbus, Ohio, from Monday-Wednesday for the 2021 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Regionals.

The senior will be competing after repeating as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference individual medalist and leading the Hawks to a fifth-place finish in the 2021 conference championsh­ip on April 25 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

“I’m a little bit nervous. It is nerve-wracking, especially because I haven’t been in that environmen­t yet. I would say that I am prepared enough (though),” Loza said. “I still don’t know the conditions of how it’s going to be set up, I’ve never been in Ohio before so that’s going to be interestin­g.”

With her hands full, Loza will be flying in a day before the tournament for a practice round and hopes that will be the time she can really get a comfortabl­e feel for the course outline, the greens and the fairways. She’s been working hard on keeping her swing effective, perfecting her short game, putting and being sure that she can put the ball on the straightes­t path possible to victory.

Head coach Pete Stankevich and assistant coach George Connor will be tagging along with Loza on her journey, as well as her father.

The NCAA Regionals are considered preliminar­y rounds of NCAA championsh­ips competitio­n and all national championsh­ips policies apply. The event will be televised live on the Golf Channel. The Columbus regional will be played at the Ohio State University Golf Club and is hosted by Ohio State.

Across the four NCAA Regional sites, there will be 72 teams and 24 individual­s competing for a spot in the finals. The top six teams and the three low individual competitor­s among the remaining teams from each site will advance to Scottsdale, Arizona on May 21-26.

“The field is going to be very strong. It’s going to be a lot of top-30, top-50 programs with a lot of great individual players. She’s going to have to play really well to advance. … but she’s fully capable if she’s on her game,” Stankevich said. “We’re going to help her as best we can.”

Loza’s four-year career as a Hawk has been impressive.

As a freshman, she was named the MAAC rookie of the year and to the all-conference team and had eight top-20 finishes.

As a sophomore, she won the conference tournament for the first time as an individual, becoming the second athlete in program history to collect such a feat and the first since 2010. She received the MAAC McLeod Trophy for being one of the most outstandin­g golfers in the conference.

Her junior season was cut short due to the COVID19 pandemic, but not before being Hartford’s top performer in four of the five tournament­s, landing three top-15 finishes.

She went into her senior season boasting the best career stroke average in program history at 75.21.

“When I recruited her, I told some people that she could potentiall­y win this tournament all four years in a row and she came close,” Stankevich said. “I think she’s been the best player in the conference since she got here and obviously has set a lot of records for us. I think it’s a fitting end to her career, that she was able to win it again and get that bid.”

“She’s a ball-striking machine, for lack of a better word. She hits it very straight, very solid, hits a lot of fairways and greens. When she finds herself in trouble, she usually gets up and down and can still save par. She’s very steady,” he continued.

While she does have another year of eligibilit­y due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Loza plans to move forward. She’s still in the decision-making process but really wants to move closer to her family in Winter Garden, Florida, to earn her master’s degree.

“If you have the goal of being a Division I student-athlete, then go for it,” she said. “I know it can be hard and painful at times, sometimes I thought of quitting, but (looking back on these) four years I’m truly blessed to have had this opportunit­y. All of the time and effort I put into golfing actually paid off. … I’m also grateful for my mother. She insisted I keep practicing, keep playing.”

 ?? STEVE MCLAUGHLIN PHOTOGRAPH­Y ?? University of Hartford golfer Maria Loza is headed to Columbus, Ohio, after qualifying for the NCAA Division I regionals.
STEVE MCLAUGHLIN PHOTOGRAPH­Y University of Hartford golfer Maria Loza is headed to Columbus, Ohio, after qualifying for the NCAA Division I regionals.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States