LOUDONVILLE, NY - Following a one-year hiatus, the Crosstown Challenge returns for the Fall 2025 season between Siena Women's Golf and the UAlbany Great Danes. The Saints and Great Danes open the season Friday, Sept. 12, at 11 a.m. at Pinehaven Country Club in Guilderland, NY.
After meeting each season from 2016-2023, Siena and UAlbany will resume its traditional dual challenge early Friday afternoon nearly two years to the day of its last clash on Sept. 10, 2023. However, this year's edition serves as the first to be played at Pinehaven Country Club. Known for hosting the Epson Tour – the qualifying tour of the LPGA – Pinehaven also served as host to the 2021 NYSGA Women's Senior Amateur Championship and has served as host to NYS Amateur Championships in 1998, 2002 and 2008.
Second-year head coach
Noel Gebauer returns five Saints from last season, headlined by 2025 All-MAAC Second Team selection
Mackenzie Whitney. The Westminster, MA, native posted a career-low 80.20 scoring average last season over 21 rounds, while her individual win to end the Fall 2024 season at the Crusader Invitational was the eighth-lowest 36-hole score in program history (+8, 148).
Junior
Emely Kintzel returns after an impressive sophomore season in 2024-25 in which the German product was the co-individual champion at the SHU Spring Break Invitational. Posting a 80.6 scoring average over 21 rounds, Kintzel also enjoyed a top-10 finish at The Intercollegiate at Prospect Bay. Additionally, sophomore
Julia Kret looks to build momentum from a solid freshman campaign where she was Siena's top-finisher at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships. There, Kret placed 10th with the sixth-lowest 54-hole score in program history (+10, 226) in a season where she held a 79.0 scoring average through 16 rounds.
The 2025 MAAC runner-up Great Danes fell 13 strokes shy of topping Quinnipiac in last season's championships, while 24 strokes separated them and the Saints between second and fifth. Sophomore Madison Kuratani headlines UAlbany following MAAC All-Championship Team honors last season, finishing the championships tied for sixth +7 overall – six strokes behind first.
Following the Crosstown Challenge, Siena returns to the course from Sept. 29-30 at the Sacred Heart Invitational in Milford, CT.
