Kiira Riihijarvi Repeats as SSC Golfer of Year; Sofia Cadavid Also Named All-SSC
MELBOURNE, Fla. - Ten student-athletes have been named to the 2021 Sunshine State Conference women's golf All-Conference teams. Kiira Riihijarvi of the University of Tampa repeats as Golfer of the Year as fellow Spartan Sofia Cadavid was also named all-conference.
Lynn University's Camila Madariaga is named Freshman of the Year. Marcelo Huarte of Lynn University earns a second consecutive Coach of the Year nod. Voting for the All-SSC Women's Golf Teams was conducted among the league's women's golf coaches.
SSC Women's Golf All-Conference History: All-SSC Teams | Golfers & Coaches of the Year
Riihijarvi is named conference Golfer of the Year for the second consecutive season. The senior from Oulu, Finland, won three tournaments in 2020-21 and finished Top-2 in her remaining two tournament appearances. Riihijarvi posted a scoring average of 72.00 across 15 rounds, which bests a talented field of SSC golfers by exactly one stroke. Riihijarvi remains the first Tampa Spartan to be named Golfer of the Year and becomes the seventh SSC athlete to win the award twice1. Currently, she is ranked 47th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
Madariaga finished Top-10 in all six of her tournament appearances for the Fighting Knights. The product of Puebla, Mexico, tied her season-high finish of fourth place at the SSC Women's Golf Championship. Madariaga averaged 74.17 strokes per round across her 18 rounds this season, placing her fifth among league golfers. She is the fourth Lynn women's golfer to win Freshman of the Year, first since 20042.
Huarte is two-for-two in SSC Coach of the Year awards, as his peers honor him for a second consecutive year. Under his leadership, the Fighting Knights finished first in four tournaments and second in the remaining two events. Lynn hit the repeat button on the SSC Championship in 2021 and posted the program's first-ever SSC individual championship3. Huarte remains the second head coach from Lynn to win SSC Women's Golf Coach of the Year4 and the fifth in league history to repeat5.
Riihijarvi highlights the repeat All-SSC winners for the 2021 season as she takes home All-SSC accolades for the third consecutive year. Along with Lynn's Helen Kreuzer, Riihijarvi earned back-to-back First Team honors. Sofia Garcia Austt of Nova Southeastern University lands on the Second Team after previously winning First Team honors. Her teammate, Hanna Ahlander, finds the Second Team in 2021 after winning Freshman of the Year accolades in 2019.
Golfer of the Year: Kiira Riihijarvi, Tampa
Freshman of the Year: Camila Madariaga, Lynn
Coach of the Year: Marcelo Huarte, Lynn
2021 All-SSC First Team | School | Year | Hometown |
Kiira Riihijarvi‡*^ | Tampa | Sr. | Oulu, Finland |
Helen Kreuzer* | Lynn | Sr. | Bensheim, Germany |
Alice Gotbring | Barry | Jr. | Vaxholm, Sweden |
Francesca Santoni | Saint Leo | Sr. | Torbole sul Garda, Italy |
Camila Madariaga | Lynn | Fr. | Puebla, Mexico |
- | |||
2021 All-SSC Second Team | School | Year | Hometown |
Alice Gatti | Lynn | Fr. | Tavernerio, Italy |
Sofia Cadavid | Tampa | Sr. | Bogota, Colombia |
Katharina Hesse | Rollins | So. | Bremen, Germany |
Sofia Garcia Austt* | Nova Southeastern | Jr. | Montevideo, Uruguay |
Hanna Ahlander~ | Nova Southeastern | Jr. | Vasteras, Sweden |