Lone senior Megan Moylan looks back on golf journey

Megan Moylan tees off during a match earlier this season. Moylan is the only senior on Lehigh’s seven-person women’s golf team. (Courtesy of Lehigh Sports)

Megan Moylan was introduced to golf by her mom when she was 8 years old.

Moylan chose to stick with the sport because she fell in love with the team-bonding experience and is now in her last year on the Lehigh women’s golf team.

Of the seven members on the team, she is the lone senior.

Moylan came from a golf program at a small high school in North East, Pennsylvania, that didn’t foster a team atmosphere, so she was excited for the chance to play on a bigger, more committed team at Lehigh. She wanted to experience the team bonding and unity that comes with playing golf.

It helped that Moylan would get the chance to play golf at Lehigh with her older sister Kelly, ’15, who was wrapping up her career as a Mountain Hawk just as Moylan was beginning hers.

Lehigh women’s golf coach Mary Kate Lynch recruited Moylan to play golf, but not for Lehigh. Moylan first met Lynch — who was a coach at St. Francis University at the time — while her sister was being recruited. When it was time for Moylan to begin the recruitment process, Lynch was one of the first people who reached out to her.

Although Moylan ultimately chose Lehigh because she thought it would be fun to play with her sister during her first year of college, she said it was almost like fate that she ended up having Lynch as her coach for her final year as a collegiate golfer. Lynch was hired as an assistant coach for the 2016-2017 school year prior to being named the head coach this past summer.

Moylan said her first year on the team was her favorite because of her sister’s presence, which made it easier for her to adjust to Lehigh.

“It really helped with the transition, and knowing someone on the team made it easy to make friends and make it a smooth transition in general,” Moylan said.

In her first season on the team, Moylan played in eight out of the nine tournaments, finishing 14^th at the Patriot League Championship. As a sophomore, she showed up in all nine tournaments and ended the year with a 21st-place finish at the championship. Last year, she played in all 10 tournaments, concluding the season in 19th place.

On top of her achievements as an athlete, Moylan was named to the Patriot League Honor Roll all three years after graduating as the valedictorian of her high school class.

Lynch said in a short amount of time, she has seen Moylan grow into one of the strongest, hardest working golfers and most determined, dedicated leaders on the team.

Lynch said something she admires the most about Moylan is that she never gives up and is constantly picking up her teammates.

Moylan’s natural leadership abilities led to her being named captain of the team. She said she prides herself on being a good role model for her teammates and helping the freshmen get acclimated to the team as Mountain Hawks.

Junior Reagan Jahn, who is one of the teammates Moylan has mentored, said Moylan is one of the most genuine people she has ever met and was among the first people to reach out to her when she came to Lehigh a year after Moylan started at the university.

“She is a great teammate,” Jahn said. “I wish I had another year with her.”

With the season coming to an end, Moylan is excited to play in her last Patriot League Championship, hosted by Navy on April 21-22, and hopes to place top 10.