The Valparaiso University women’s golf team is set to tee off the 2023-24 season, which begins on Sunday with the start of the Redbird Invitational, hosted by Illinois State at the Weibring Golf Club in Normal, Ill.

This will mark the third straight year that Valpo’s season begins with the Redbird Invitational. That will be followed by another familiar tournament as the Beacons take part in the Brittany Kelly Cardinal Classic for the third straight year as Ball State hosts at The Players Club in Muncie, Ind. on Sept. 18-19.

The fall docket continues with the program’s eighth appearance in the Butler Fall Classic including the third straight year the squad has competed in that event, which will take place from Oct. 2-3 at Highland GC in Indianapolis.

Valpo will play in Loyola’s fall tournament for the fifth time in the last seven years as the Loyola Parkinson Invitational will occur on Oct. 9-10 at Merit Club in Libertyville, Ill. The fall season concludes with the Dayton Flyer Invitational, Valpo’s 10^th appearance at that tournament in the program’s 14-year history. The event will take place on Oct. 16-17 at NCR CC in Kettering, Ohio.

“Our schedule for the fall is very consistent with what we’ve had in the past and is a very competitive schedule for us,” head coach Jill McCoy said. “There are some opportunities for us to get some wins over teams that we haven’t beaten in the past as we have a chance to make a lot of strides this year.”

After the five-tournament fall docket, the Beacons will spring back into action in February to begin the second half of the 10-event slate. The second semester of competition starts on Feb. 19-20 at the Islander Classic, hosted by Texas A&M Corpus Christi at Corpus Christi CC in Corpus Christi, Texas. A stretch of warm-weather action continues at the UTRGV Invitational (March 3-4, McAllen CC; McAllen, Texas) and the Butler Don Benbow Spring Invitational (March 11-12, Jacksonville Beach GC; Jacksonville, Fla.).

The Indiana State Spring Invitational – a staple of every season of McCoy’s head coaching tenure – is back on the slate for the fifth straight year. That will occur on March 31 and April 1 at Terre Haute CC in Terre Haute, Ind. and will serve as the final tune-up for the MVC Championship, which will span from April 14-16 at Annbriar GC in Waterloo, Iowa.

Freshman Bella Campos (Honolulu, Hawaii / IMG Academy) joins eight returning faces – senior Roslyn Leitner (Dundee, Ill. / Harry Jacobs), the junior quartet of Belle Brunner (Goshen, Ind. / Concord), Anna Fay (Ada, Mich. / Forest Hills), Madison Keil (LaGrange, Ind. / Lakeland) and Katie Schreiner (Fenton, Mo. / Summit) and the sophomore trio of Emily Krzyzanowski (Scottsbluff, Neb. / Gering), Katelyn McCoy (Chesterton, Ind. / Chesterton) and Taylor Skibinski (Michigan City, Ind. / Michigan City).

“Taylor Skibinski came out and is leading qualifying after two weekends,” McCoy said. “Katie Schreiner has also come on strong and Roslyn Leitner has made strides as a senior going into her final year. I’m very excited for this season to get started. Everyone seems to have come back better and stronger. We already look better than last year, and the excitement among the players is higher than it’s ever been.”