The UNC Wilmington women’s golf team enters this season as the defending CAA champions for the third time in five seasons.

The Seahawks look primed to defend their title with almost every player from last season’s roster returning to play. Last year’s lone senior, Cristina Manrique, was the team’s only departure.

Coach Cindy Ho is entering her 10th season with the program. She was named the CAA coach of the year last spring for the second time in her career.  Two UNCW golfers were recognized during the CAA season-ending awards ceremony, as well. Senior Sofia Hagsund was an all-conference first-teamer and sophomore Laverry Kumar was named to the second team.

Ho is looking for them to be the team leaders on the course this season. “I am excited that Sofia and Laverry both earned All-CAA recognition for their play this past season,” said Ho at the time, in a statement.  “Sofia’s first-team selection is well deserved, as she has been our leader on the links for the past two years and was the most consistent player throughout the year for us. Laverry capped off a solid freshman year with her outstanding performance at the NCAA Regionals. She is an outstanding all-around player and very good under pressure.”

The Seahawks 2011-12 schedule contains nine events; eight of which UNCW has previously participated in. The only new tournament scheduled is the Golfweek Program Challenge on Sept. 11-13, where they will play alongside the Seahawk men’s team.

During the fall, the team will make return trips to the Windy City Classic (Oct. 3-4) and the ECU Lady Pirate Intercollegiate (Oct. 10-11) before the Seahawks host the 10th annual Landfall Tradition, Oct. 28-30. The Landfall Tradition will feature 18 of the top women’s programs in the country on the Country Club of Landfall’s Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

The spring slate is highlighted by UNCW’s second home tournament of the year. The UNCW Lady Seahawk Classic will be held at the River Landing Golf Course in Wallace, N.C. The event will involve 12 teams, as opposed to the ten that participated last season.

The Seahawks will defend their conference title at the CAA Championships, April 20-22, at the St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C.