“We’re going to break Kent State’s (winning) streak.”

That’s what BGSU golfer Ava O’Sullivan had to say when asked about her goals for this year’s golf season.

“I’m happy to be a part of that and be in contention for a MAC championship.”

For the past 24 years, Kent State has walked away with the title, but Ava said she and her team are looking to change that.

The junior golfer from Exton, Pennsylvania, originally began her golf career after her mom signed her up for a golfing summer camp at her local driving range. After seeing how much Ava enjoyed it, her parents decided to get her individual golf lessons, and according to Ava, it took off from there.

From age 10, Ava said she knew she wanted to play golf at the collegiate level. She recalled a trip with her swing coach, Eric, who was instrumental in driving her golf career.

“One of his students was the East Tennessee State women’s golf coach, Stephanie Shelton,” she said. “We went down there for a long weekend, and I got a glimpse into what it was like being a student-athlete and where golf could take me if I kept at it.”

She said ever since that trip, she knew she was meant to play in college.

Ava was a busy high schooler. On top of her countless golf accolades as well as leading her school of Downingtown East High School to the 2021 state championship, which was the first for the school in any sport, she also participated in the National Honors Society, led her school orchestra, pit orchestra, and chamber ensemble playing violin her senior year, and graduated magna cum laude. On top of being busy in the classroom and the course, she also was busy planning for her future with the recruitment process.

Being a 2022 graduate, COVID-19 affected much of Ava’s recruitment process. She said one of the most challenging parts of her original recruiting process was different rules for Division 1 and Division II schools.

“I was never allowed to talk to any (Division 1) coaches. They could never see me,” she said.

Ava ultimately committed to Converse University, a Division II school in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

“I really liked their bio-chem program,” she said.

Ava remembered how she was told by a professor at Converse that she would be able to do research and be a student-athlete there.

Despite her athletic success at Converse, being 5-time Conference Carolina golfer of the week and 3-time golfer freshman of the month, before her first year was over, Ava decided to transfer out, saying it wasn’t a positive environment for her.

So, she decided to enter the transfer portal.

When entering the portal, Ava said she recognized a lot of the schools reaching out to her, including schools she had played against while at Converse.

“They already knew me, they’d seen me play,” she said.

Ava said she didn’t have to reach out to many schools; they reached out to her. Despite spending her first year of college play at a Division II school, Division 1 schools were reaching out to Ava, including Bowling Green.

In 2022, when Ava began her recruiting process, Erin Fahey was the assistant coach of the Women’s Golf team at BGSU and became head coach by the time Ava entered the portal. Fahey said she was on the road to building a winning team when Ava came back on her radar.

“We recruited her originally when I was the assistant coach, and she said no to us the first time,” Fahey said. “So I knew the name.”

Fahey added that she believes there is value in transfers.

“You can’t build a roster off of transfers, but you can enhance it,” Fahey said.

So Fahey recruited Ava for the second time.

After coming to BGSU for her official visit in 2023, it became one of Ava’s top contenders.

“The one thing I wanted to get right was the atmosphere with the team and the coach. I could tell everyone liked each other,” she said.

She said she remembers thinking to herself, “I want that.”

When it came down to Bowling Green and one other school, Ava talked to her parents about not knowing which school to choose. Her parents heard the way she talked about both schools and one day told her, “You’ve made your choice. You just need to say it.”

Looking back, Ava said she subconsciously knew it was Bowling Green right after the official visit.

Since coming to BG, Ava has earned WCGA All-American Scholar Team Accolades, received academic All-MAC honors in the 2023-24 season, broke the BGSU single-season scoring average mark per round with a 75.03, and been named MAC golfer of the week twice, among other accolades.

On top of being so successful on the course, Ava says she truly buys into her Coach’s goals, “Coach has a really good vision for this program, and she knows where she wants to take it. I feel like when a coach has goals, I’m like, ‘I see your vision.’ ”

What might these goals entail? Coach Fahey said the biggest goal is winning.

“We’re here to win and accomplish something this program has never accomplished before,” she said.

On this year’s roster of nine, there are four freshmen golfers, and Fahey said all of them look up to Ava.

“It’s funny to watch them during practice rounds because they watch her,” Fahey said. “It’s really cool; they mimic what she does because they want to be like that.”

As the Falcons wrap up their fall season, they look ahead to the spring, including training in Florida over winter break that will offer some real outdoor play. According to Fahey, once they get back to Ohio, it is full force ahead, with a focus on the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship.

Last year, Ava led her team, earning second-team All-MAC honors. Fahey said Ava will be a huge contributor to the goals her team set for themselves this season.

“Ava’s the lead horse in that way,” Fahey said. “She’s someone I can count on from that perspective.”

At the MAC level, Fahey had a simple statement: “I see Ava being one of the top players in the MAC, she definitely can be.”