University of Delaware Athletics
Lilia Henkel Used Adjusted Mindset to Capture CAA Championship
5/5/2024 8:30:00 AM | Women's Golf
NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware women’s golf program is preparing for its third-ever NCAA Regional appearance next week. The Blue Hens enter the Bermuda Run Regional, hosted by Wake Forest, with quite a bit of momentum following their CAA Championship title last month. No individual may have more momentum than junior Lilia Henkel who is coming off her first collegiate win, claiming medalist honors and the CAA individual crown.
Henkel came to Delaware following a very successful high school career at Forest Hills Northern High School, winning a pair of individual regional (2017, 2020) and conference (2018, 2019) championships. She helped lead Forest Hills Northern to three-straight state championships and had the opportunity for a fourth state title taken away by the COVID-19 pandemic. When it came time to choosing a school to continue her golf career, Henkel liked a lot that Delaware had to offer.
“I wanted to go outside of Michigan, outside of the Midwest and see what else the country has to offer,” Henkel said. “I really liked what Delaware had to offer. I liked the coaches a lot, liked their recruiting style, and the engineering program here at Delaware is very good which was a priority as well. The ranking of Delaware was right where I needed to be to push myself to be in the fifth spot as a freshman.”
Her career at UD started strong with a two-under par at the Nittany Lion Invitational in September of her freshman year. She finished her freshman campaign with a pair of top-10 finishes and a ranking fifth on the team in scoring while appearing in eight of the team’s 11 tournaments. Last season as a sophomore, Henkel improved her scoring by nearly two strokes per round and was fourth on the team in scoring.
However, the results were not showing up as Henkel did not have a top-10 finish in 10 tournaments as a sophomore and had only cracked the top 20 in one tournament so far this season. However, a change of mindset heading into the CAA Championships made everything click for her.
“It was all mental. Golf is 70% mental if not more and I was just in a different mindset from the previous tournament. It was very outcome oriented and CAAs focused on more of a process-oriented goal of, I'm going to try the best I can. Max Homa has this quote, ‘however good I am is however good I am, I don't need to be more”, and the final day I probably repeated that 20 times to myself because I was going to be okay with where I was, and I wasn't going to push for anything more.”
Henkel sat in a tie for 14th place after the tournament’s first 18 holes, carding a 79 in tough, windy conditions. She adapted to the elements in the second round as she turned in a one-under par to be the first player in 50-person field to score under par over the first 36 holes.
Entering the final round, Henkel found herself in a tie for first place with opponents from UNCW and Charleston, and Delaware sitting in second place as a team, five strokes off the lead. The Blue Hens closed the gap throughout the day behind strong play from Christina Carroll, Alisa Khokhlova, Marissa Malosh and Oihana Etxezarreta. Henkel sat at two-over par on the day as she headed to the 18th tee. She didn’t know it, but UD was tied with Charleston for the lead, and she was just one stroke back in the individual standings.
“I had a feeling we were doing well. Walking to the 18th tee box I heard from what felt like miles away, but with perfect clarity, ‘Let’s Go!” from Christina because Marissa made a great birdie putt. So, at the very least I knew we were something, but I didn't think about it, it didn't really cross my mind until the 18th hole.
Henkel landed her approach shot right on the green and, in front of her entire team and coaches, she sank a long birdie putt to clinch the team victory. While the celebration was already on, she had to turn right around and play the 18th hole again in the playoff. However, with the team victory already secured, there was no pressure on her shoulders.
The birdie putt from Lilia to clinch the championship! ?? pic.twitter.com/Tf53akMbis
— Delaware Women's Golf (@DelawareWGOLF) April 14, 2024
“We won the team title, and that was all I cared about. I would take a thousand team titles before I take an individual title any single day. And by that point with the amount of gratitude and appreciation I had for playing the day, the appreciation I had for my team and just the mantra that I kept throughout the entire day it was like playing a 19th hole.”
Her approach shot came up just short of the green but, in a déjà vu scenario, she sank her chip shot to become just the second Blue Hen ever to claim the CAA individual championship. ‘
“I was just so excited to have a really fun time with my team. I wasn't thinking about myself, I was just thinking about all the memories that we were going to have and experience together.”
Delaware earned the CAA’s automatic bid into the NCAA Championships and will travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the Bermuda Run Regional, hosted by Wake Forest. The three-day, 54-hole tournament will be held May 6-8 at Bermuda Run Country Club. The Blue Hens are the No. 10 seed in the 12-team regional and the low five teams will advance to the finals which will be held from May 17-22 in Carlsbad, California.
