Winners of the South-West Conference championship in three of the last four years, Newtown High School’s girls’ golf team is rebuilding following the graduation of six seniors — including standout Sarah Houle — last year.

“We’re building a new foundation. We’re very excited. We have 13 girls in the program, and six are freshmen,” Coach Jeremy O’Connell said. “I love coaching here — a lot of instructional time for kids that really haven’t played a lot of golf.”

This year’s captains are Emma DaSilva, Cailin Wilson, and Gigi Marino.

The team also includes sophomores Nidhi Mukka, Summer Wilmot, Abby Watson, and Bradyn Smith; and freshmen Naiya Amin, Maggie Breault, Norah Kolb, Catherine Murray, Kendall Reed, and Christina Savo.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how the older kids do when they’re in a match role now,” said O’Connell, adding that the upperclassmen, for the most part, did not compete last season.

Tough competition stands to come from Masuk of Monroe and Joel Barlow of Redding. The regular season is set to begin on Wednesday, April 4, when Notre Dame-Fairfield visits the team's new home course, at Newtown Country Club, starting at 3 pm.