RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's golf team is excited to have the opportunity to carry over the momentum they built in the fall when they start the spring season at the Texas State Invitational in February.
 
"I am super excited," Director of Golf Houston Moore said. "I think most importantly coming out of the gate is that we get off to a good start and have good vibes to start the year. The break seems a little longer from the end of the fall to the beginning of spring, so we are really excited to see the spring get going."
 
The Vaqueros finished the fall season with a team scoring average of 305 and is ranked 191^st on Scoreboard, powered by clippd. The 305 is a 7.3 stroke improvement from the fall of 2024, and their ranking is a 25-spot improvement from the final ranking of 2024-25. 
 
With classes starting a week ago, it leaves little time for the team to get ready for their season opening tournament in New Braunfels, so right now the focus is to get as much golf in as possible.
 
"Right now, we are just getting as much golf in as possible," Moore said. "We have an early start to our year, so we are just getting out on the golf course and getting more reps. Everyone is coming back to the Valley for the first time this spring, so everyone is all over the world. Some people were afforded the opportunity to get more practice that others so some of those guys who live in colder climates are still trying to get ready."
 
The Vaqueros will follow the Texas State Invitational with a couple of trips to Corpus Christi for the Islander Classic and the South Texas Match Play before heading to the Riverbend Intercollegiate.
 
While they get some familiar tournaments, the Vaqueros will compete in a couple of new ones this spring as they head to Tennessee for the Nashville Intercollegiate and then close out the regular season at the ULM Invitational before heading to the Southland Conference Tournament in mid-April.
 
The Vaqueros started the fall by setting the program single round record while posting the program's second best three round score, but they battled through some injuries in the fall that forced them to make changes in their lineup. 
 
No matter the lineup, the Vaqueros went out there and fought to get those improvements in their scoring averages and that is something Coach Moore and Associate Head Coach Puthita Khuanrudee want to see.
 
 
"I think they are resilient," Moore said. "What we saw in the fall was that everyone wants the opportunity to play and no one wants to give that opportunity up and because of that they are all very resilient and fight in all their rounds. I don't know if we had our best lineup together at one time. We are excited to throw a couple of different combinations together and see how they progress. They got better as the fall went on with a couple of different things in their game. We are excited to see how they have progressed come April."
 
Leading the way for the Vaqueros is junior Natalia Rodriguez, who finished the fall with a 75.2 stroke average. Miriam Barcalova was right behind her with a 76.5 stroke average while Cristina Galban posted a 76.6 stroke average in the fall. 
 
The roster is deep for the Vaqueros with Zoe Hobbs posting a 78.1 stroke average, Preston Saiz posting a 77.4 stroke average, and Pitchayapa Pungho posting a 78.4 stroke average. They, along with Kieli Saenz and Camila Herrera, will be looking to push Rodriguez, Barcalova and Galban. With just five in the lineup, the fight to make each tournament becomes intense but makes everyone else better. 
 
That's the message to the Vaqueros as they get ready for the spring season. 
 
"You have to show up and play," Moore said. "Everyone wants to get in that van or plane, so you have to show up and play and be ready. That's the biggest thing and making sure you are putting that extra time on your own because if you're not doing it, some else is."
 
If the Vaqueros continue to show their resiliency and put in that hard work, then the spring could have even more records set and maybe even a championship to close it all out. 
 
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