SOFIA YOUNG won the SCAC’s Most Valuable Player award as a freshman last season.

Benicia High’s girls golf team has won 14 league championships in the past 16 years and hasn’t lost a Solano County Athletic Conference match since 2009. To keep that dominance intact, the Lady Panthers must rely on the conference’s best golfer and a cart-full of inexperienced youngsters in 2015.

Sophomore Sofia Young, who beat out teammate Jennifer Eleccion for last year’s SCAC’S MVP award, is back and better than ever. Young now has the same swing coach as Benician Kathleen Scavo – who qualified and competed in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst, N.C., and is a member of the University of Oregon women’s golf team.

“She’s even better this year and is capable of going under par,” Benicia head coach Nan Prolo said of Young. “She works on her game every single day and she’s adjusted to a flatter swing because she’s not very tall. That flatter swing with the big extension gives her more club-head speed.”

Young will be competing in the annual Drive, Chip and Putt Championships this week at Chambers Bay in Washington and seems destined to repeat as SCAC MVP. Her closest competition is teammate Eleccion, a senior who made All-SCAC last season. Eleccion has yet to play with Benicia this season while recovering from a medical condition and is very busy off the course, taking college classes while still in high school.

“She said she’s not up for playing 18 holes yet, but she’ll be able to play nine, which is good news,” Prolo said. “Now we just have to work around her schedule.”

Prolo must work to find capable golfers to round out the final four starting positions. Junior Jordan Whiting begins her third year with the team while junior Sydney Jones saw sporadic action last season. Bailey Ilomin and Gabi Komoda also have some high school experience.

Newcomers Lauren Tsutsui, Lacey Tsutsui, Andie Wilson and Megan Saari are fighting for a starting job on a team that has already won its first two SCAC matches of the season.

“Our new girls are going to be solid once they get the jitters out, settle down and build some confidence and consistency,” Prolo said. “I have no idea what to expect this year. We’re a work in progress. My job is to get everybody competitive playing time and make sure the young girls hold it together.”

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