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Catherine Matranga

Catherine Matranga has been with the UT Arlington women's golf program since it began, being hired as an associate head coach in July of 2016. After a first year of recruiting, the Mavs officially teed off for the first time during the 2017-18 season.

After spending 2016-18 in an associate head coach role, Matranga served as the interim head coach in 2018-19. Following the season, in May of 2019, she was promoted to head coach.

In her fifth season as head coach in 2023-24, Matranga helped UTA to the following accolades:

  • Posted the best low round in program history with a 1st-round 280 (-8) back at the fall-opening Timpanogos Collegiate Invitational (9/10/23).
  • Best finish of 3rd place came from the shortened Bearkat Invite - event was cut down to two rounds due to inclement weather. There, UTA recorded a 606 36-hole total.
  • Helped sophomore Madison Le to 11 rounds of even par or better on the season, ranking as the Mavs' leading scorer in seven events. Le reached a new milestone in her collegiate career with a round of 67 at UTRGV's Vaquero Invitational (3/5). 
  • Fellow sophomore Kamri Gabel recorded a new program low round of 65 - which came from the first round in Provo, Utah. 
  • Tabbed a team scoring average of 306.1 across 11 tournaments and 32 rounds.

Matranga guided UTA to the following accomplishments in her fourth season as head coach in 2022-23:

  • Led UTA to match a program-high of three eagles in a single season as Romina Gonzalez, Kamri Gabel and Ana Rodriguez tabbed one apiece.
  • Improved the team's par-3 scoring average to 3.3403 from 3.3491 a season ago.
  • Helped freshman Madison Le to 53 birdies in just her first year as a Maverick - which marks Le with the 6th-most in a single season in program history.
  • The Mavs produced the 6th best 36-hole total of 600 back at the season-opening USA Intercollegiate in Sept. of 2022.

In her third season full season as head coach in 2021-22, Matranga led the Mavericks to the following accolades:

  • UTA tabbed a 591 36-hole total which proved to be the best in program history back at the Little Rock Golf Classic in Oct. of 2021. The Mavericks produced 903 team total that went on to be the 6th-best in program lore.
  • Back at the ORU Spring Invite in mid-April, UTA posted season-best 4th-place finish.
  • The Mavs produced 240 birdies throughout the season improving by 102 from the 2020-21 season.  
  • UTA's’ 4.39 par-4 scoring average for the year was the best in program history.
  • Across 33 rounds this season, the Mavericks posted their second-best scoring average of 309.06 - trailing behind a 307.43 average from the 2019-20 season.

In her second season full season at the helm of the Mavs in 2020-21, Matranga helped UTA to the following accomplishments:

  • UTA posted its best single-season national scoring rating of 164 thanks in part to the program’s 2nd-best average score of 309.18 for the year.
  • Despite competing in only 17 rounds due to the abbreviated COVID-impacted season, the Mavs still secured the 2nd-best finish percentage in single-season program history at 36.5 percent.
  • The Mavs’ 4.41 par-4 scoring average for the year was the best in program history.
  • The opening-round 295 at the UTA Invitational in October was tied for the 4th-best all-time. That was part of a 36-hole 594 total which is tied for the lowest in program history. The 892 54-hole score represented a season low and was the 3rd-best all-time.

In her first full season as the program's head coach in 2019-20, Matranga – despite having the season canceled in mid-March due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic – led the Mavs to the following accolades:

  • UTA posted its first-ever under-par team round in the final round of the Lady Red Wolves Classic (Oct. 14-15) with a 3-under 285 total – seven shots better than the previous mark set in the 2018 Wyoming Cowgirl Classic (292, +4).
  • That final round at the Lady Red Wolves Classic helped propel the Mavericks to a program-best 54-hole score with an 883 (+19) total. Each of the three-best 54-hole scores in program history occurred in 2019-20, including an 891 at the Kiawah Island Classic and an 899 at the Little Rock Classic.
  • After holding a 312.24 team scoring average in its first-ever season in 2017-18, UTA lowered that score to 309.64 in 2018-19 and continued its progress with a program-best 307.43 in 2019-20.
  • UTA’s national ranking also lowered again: 208 in 2017-18 to 173 in 2018-19 to 160 in 2019-20. The Mavs’ finish percentage continued the same trajectory: 24.2 percent in 2017-18 to 34.9 percent in 2018-19 to 55.6 percent in 2019-20.

In 2018-19 as the interim head coach, Matranga helped the second-year program improve dramatically from its inaugural 2017-18 campaign, highlighted by the numerous accomplishments below:

  • The team scoring average was lowered from 312.24 to 309.64. The finish percentage also improved from 24.2 percent to 34.9 percent. Additionally, the Mavs’ Golfstat year-end national ranking went from a 208 to a 173.
  • Each of the three sophomores on the roster significantly lowered their scoring average from their freshman seasons: Madigan Murray (3.21 stroke improvement), Sydney Garber (2.91) and Kate Tran (1.64).
  • The 904 three-round total at the Kiawah Island Spring Classic in February tied for the best in program history. Three of the top-4, and five of the top-7, 54-hole totals in program history occurred in 2018-19.
  • A final-round 295 at the Kiawah Island Spring Classic was the 2nd-best round in program history.
  • Six of the program’s 10 all-time individual rounds below par came in 2018-19, including three of the five lowest: 69s by Tran and Madigan (tied for the program record) and a 70 by Garber (tied for the 4th-lowest).
  • First time in program history recording six-straight rounds below 310 earlier this spring (Texas State Invitational and Kiawah Island Spring Classic). It had previously never been done more than three-straight rounds.

Prior to her time at UTA, Matranga served as an assistant coach for Division-II Rogers State in Oklahoma. In the program’s provisional season of competing, she helped the Hillcats pick up top-three performances at the Heartland Conference Championship. Before joining Rogers State, Matranga spent four years as the Assistant Golf Professional at Ridglea Country Club.
 
A Fort Worth native, Matranga was a four-year letterwinner for TCU (2003-07), finishing her career with an All-American Honorable Mention honor in 2007 after leading the Horned Frogs to a Mountain West Championship. She was also named to the 2005 Conference USA Second Team and 2007 All-Mountain West Team.
 
At the time of her graduation, Matranga’s 76.05 career scoring average ranked 6th in program history, and her 132 career rounds were the 3rd-most in TCU history. Additionally, Matranga possessed three of the top-10 lowest 54-hole scores in program history (including the 2nd-lowest: 211), and three of the seven-lowest rounds in program history: all 68s. Including a 69, Matranga’s four sub-70 rounds were tied for the most by an individual player in TCU history. She recorded 13 top-10 finishes during her decorated career, and won the 2006 Dick McGuire Invitational.
 
After her days as a Horned Frog, she played seven seasons on the LPGA Symetra Tour and participated in the U.S. Women’s Open in 2013.