Eastern lands three on first team while Zocchi named MAC Freshman of the Year
CLEVELAND, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Mid-American Conference announced its annual All-MAC teams and specialty award winners for the 2025-26 women’s golf season, May 1, with the Eastern Michigan University program well represented as four players earned team selections while Matilde Zocchi was named the MAC Freshman of the Year in a vote of the league’s coaches. Eastern featured three players on the first team, including Janae Leovao, Jasmine Leovao, and Baiyok Sukterm, while Savannah de Bock was selected to the second team.
All five players were instrumental in the success of the team this season as Eastern earned a berth in the NCAA Regionals for the first time in program history with their selection to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The Eagles most recently placed second at the 2026 MAC Women’s Golf Championships (April 26-28) with three players finishing in the top 10, including de Bock (Ecaussinnes-d’enghien, Belgium/Institut de l’Enfant-Jésus-Lycée/Georgia), who earned a third-place finish and a selection to the MAC All-Tournament Team, marking the sixth time an Eastern player earned the distinction an the first since Kelsey Murphy in 2015. Along with her tournament selection, de Bock was voted All-MAC Second Team after earning a spot on the first team last year. She is the eighth player in program history to earn multiple All-MAC honors in a career and the first since Murphy was honored four consecutive years (2014-17).
Eastern led the first-team selections with three of the five names on the list. Janae Leovao (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino/Long Beach State) finished tied for ninth at the MAC Championships and currently ranks 53rd nationally, the second-highest ranking of any player in the conference. She won two tournaments, including the season-opening The Southern (Sept. 8-9) one week before taking the Leadership & Golf Invitational (Sept. 15-16) to lead EMU to back-to-back team titles. Jasmine Leovao (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino/Long Beach State), who is 67th, tied for 12th at the conference tournament after posting eight top 20 finishes during the season with five top five showings, including a runner-up finish at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational (Oct. 20-22). Sukterm (Bang Yi, Thailand/Panitchayakan Rajdamnern Tech/Lindsey Wilson) is ranked 90th in her first season at the NCAA Division I level and recently tied for sixth at the MAC event to mark her sixth top 10 finish this year, including her medalist finish at the Silicon Valley Showcase (March 30-31).
Zocchi (Turin, Italy/Liceo Vittoria) was the top-ranked freshman in the conference for much of the season and ranks 552nd in the latest Scoreboard/Clippd listing (April 30). The Italian competed in six tournaments ahead of the conference event where she finished among the top 25 in three tournaments, including a season-best tie for 20th at The Southern. Her MAC Freshman of the Year award is the fifth earned in program history and the first since 2015 when Thelma Beck garnered the accolade. It also marked the first major award earned by a member of the program since the 2015 season.
Overall, the four awards earned are a single-season record for the program, surpassing the three All-MAC honors attained in 2009, 2010, and 2012, while also marking the first time the program has landed three players on the All-MAC First Team and placing two on the team in both 2007 and 2012. Eastern has now earned 36 All-MAC honors, 19 first-team selections, and 17 second-team accolades. Additionally, including de Bock’s first-team honor from last year, the program has produced at least one All-MAC First Team recipient in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2012 and 2013 seasons when Sarah Johnson was named to the first team both times.
Eastern is set to compete in the 2026 NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla., May 11-13. Eastern, seeded fifth in the region, will look to finish in the top five in the three-day competition on a course they played earlier this spring to advance to the NCAA Championships, May 22-27, at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
2025-26 MAC Women’s Golf All-MAC Teams & Specialty Award Winners
Coach of the Year: Casey VanDamme, Kent State
Golfer of the Year: Veronika Kedroňová, Junior, Kent State
Freshman of the Year: Matilde Zocchi, Eastern Michigan
All-MAC First Team
Janae Leovao, Senior, Eastern Michigan
Jasmine Leovao, Senior, Eastern Michigan
Baiyok Sukterm, Junior, Eastern Michigan
Veronika Kedroňová, Junior, Kent State
Leon Takagi, Senior, Kent State
All-MAC Second Team
Sabrina Langerak, Senior, Ball State
Addison Kartusch, Sophomore, Bowling Green
Savannah de Bock, Junior, Eastern Michigan
Petra Babicová, Sophomore, Kent State
Isabella Goyette, Sophomore, Kent State
Gracie Larsen, Sophomore, Kent State
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