Most sports teams are quick to compare themselves to a family, but Quinnipiac golf truly lives it.

Golf isn’t a team sport in the traditional sense — players aren’t on the field or the court at the same time, with each of the Bobcat golfers teeing off in different groups. While players’ scores are tallied together for the final team totals, gameplay is completely solo.

“I think just reminding everybody that we do compete as a team, even though its an individual sport, was something that was really big,” senior captain Sandhya Vaikuntam said. 

The work has paid off. Quinnipiac golf has one of the tightest-knit groups on campus.

“It’s really special, and when I recruit I talk about it too,” head coach John O’Connor said. “The friendships that they make, I assume will last forever, and it’s fun for me to see that.”

It’s part of the reason this team has been so prolific throughout its 17 years as a program. This camaraderie builds a team culture where everyone wants to work hard, but players enjoy being a part of the program. The system has worked. Quinnipiac has won three of the last four MAAC Championships, taking home the title last season.

Reigning MAAC Individual Champion, sophomore Sophia Fujita, credits that culture to helping her continue to develop her game after her stellar freshman season at Quinnipiac.

“The dynamic of our team and just the atmosphere that we’re in always keeps me positive and always keeps me going,” Fujita said. “They’re extremely supportive…so it’s easy to keep going.” 

That support was evident in the Bobcats final regular-season event before the MAAC Tournament. With the Bobcats maintaining an eleven-player roster, O’Connor has to make tough decisions on which golfers start which tournaments. With half of the team getting their final regular-season reps in at the Rutgers Invitational over April 11 and April 12, Monday’s Fairfield Tri-Match granted the other half of the team the opportunity to play before the tournament.

But the other Bobcats were still right on the green, putting on their cheering caps to congratulate their teammates at every turn. Nowhere was it more obvious than on Hole 15, when redshirt freshman Tekla Fine-Lease secured a birdie to the excitement of her crowded teammates.

Yes, it’s a competition, both against each other in the individual competition and for a spot on the final five player roster for the MAAC Tournament, but it comes with the understanding that the competition is built on that base of friendship.

“Seeing each other when one (of us is) on the green and we’re on the fairway, we look back and wave and give a little smile,” Fujita said. “It really keeps us going throughout the round.”

The Torrance, Calif. native has made her mark in Hamden, becoming the only Bobcat to win MAAC Rookie of the Year, MAAC Player of the Year and the MAAC Individual Championship in the same season, with hopes of repeating that performance in 2026.

“She works very hard at her game,” O’Connor said. “She has a different way to go about her training that rubs off on everybody else.”

Fujita leads the team in average scoring (75.4) and has secured par or better six times in 22 rounds. She is also one of just two Bobcats this season to win an individual tournament, placing first in the Lehigh Invitational during the fall season.

The key to getting her second win of the season? Fujita says she has the tools, but it remains about maintaining focus.

“Just trying to stay patient and humble, and just keep working at it every day,” she said.

That mindset isn’t exclusive to Fujita. The other Bobcat to secure a first-place finish, junior Natalie Spiska, mentioned that being in that team environment is a benefit to her game.

“I think just being able to know that you can rely on your teammates if something feels off,” Spiska said. “Even today, while I was working on my putting, my teammate (junior Samantha Galantini) looked at my stroke and told me, okay I think this is what you’re doing wrong.”

She also commended the team’s ability to have fun together while also knowing when to put in the work, crediting O’Connor.

“Coach this year has been my favorite version of Coach,” Spiska said. “I think its the perfect balance of him making sure that he’s still our coach … but also joking around with us … making funny comments, just overall helping the team gel together.”  

That balance of having fun with one another and working hard together builds the MAAC Championship winning culture, and is what O’Connor is most proud of from his squad.

“They’ve got the same drive that they had last year,” he said. “They want to win, they don’t like to lose, and they want to keep working hard.”

O’Connor has spent the entire spring season trying out combinations on the course to find the five golfers who will best represent the Bobcats in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Now with the tournament less than a week away, O’Connor is excited to see how this year’s Bobcats will fare in the final MAAC Tournament of the season.

“The pressure is far more than it is for any other tournament,” O’Connor said. “I’m excited to see them handle that and prove that they are the best team in the MAAC.”

Quinnipiac’s MAAC Title defense will begin on Tuesday, April 21, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. at the MAAC Tournament.