Women’s Golf: Five Cavaliers receive WGCA All-American Scholars Honor

The Virginia women’s golf team placed five members on the 2020 Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars team.

The players honored were senior Julia Ford (Shrewsbury, Mass.), junior Beth Lillie (Fullerton, Calif.) sophomores Riley Smyth (Cary, N.C.) and Haeley Wotnosky (Wake Forest, N.C.) and freshman Virginia Bossi (Como, Italy).

The criteria for selection to the team is to have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5.

It marks the fourth consecutive year Ford has been honored by the WGCA, the third for Lillie and second recognition for Smyth. All five Cavaliers had previously been announced to the ACC Honor Roll.

Ford wrapped up her career in the spring by appearing in a total of 32 tournaments. She helped the Cavaliers to three tournament titles during her career including the IJGA Collegiate Invitational Championship in 2002

An All-ACC performer in 2019, Lillie was UVA’s top finisher (fifth) at the IJGA Collegiate Invitational and has led the team in scoring nine times during her three-year career. She helped Virginia to back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances as freshman and sophomore.

Smyth was second on the team in scoring average in 2019-20 with a 73.50 stroke average. She was one of UVA’s top two scorers in five of six tournaments last season.

Bossi led the Cavaliers in stroke average (73.00) during her first season as a Cavalier. She was among the team’s top two finishers in five of six events including the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, UVA’s final tournament before the remainder of the season was canceled.

Wotnosky was third on the team in scoring in 2019-20 in her first season competing for UVA. She led the team in scoring at the season-opening ANNIKA Intercollegiate and played in all six tournaments.