It has been quite the junior golf ride for Ariya Soldwisch, who earned the SNJGA’s 2024 Charlie Teel Scholarship and will play Division I golf at California State University Northridge (CSUN). The Matadors are thrilled with their new recruit.

“The team and I are SO excited to welcome Ariya to our family,” said head coach Michele Winkler. “She is a quiet yet relentless fighter on the golf course and will contribute to the improvement of this program. Ariya has racked up countless victories and accolades within her resume and is only getting better. Our Big West competitors are about to be shaken up by this incoming Matador!”

Soldwisch was part of a Coronado High women’s golf three-peat of State titles and the foundation of a team that has won six titles in eight year. She was honored with the Teel scholarship at the SNJGA All Stars Event at Rio Secco in June 2024.

“I’m so excited and proud to announce that I have verbally committed to play D1 Women’s Golf in the Big West Conference at Cal State Northridge,” Soldwisch posted about achieving her lifelong dream. “Thank you so much to everyone that has helped me get this far in my golf journey. Thank you Coach Winkler for giving me this amazing opportunity!”

Soldwisch is appreciative of the SNJGA and playing junior golf in Southern Nevada.

“Opportunity is the first word that I think about when it comes to Southern Nevada junior golf,” said Soldwisch. “I moved from Maui to Southern Nevada and the SNJGA helped me become a better player. I’m very thankful for all the people that have helped me, coach Joe Sawaia and all the Coronado girls and families. They’ve just helped me grow into a new person and I couldn’t have done anything without them. Also, getting the SNJGA Charlie Teel Scholarship means a lot. It means a lot. My family is very appreciative and makes a difference in my college expenses and golf career.”

Most recently, Soldwisch competed in the prestigious US Girls Junior Amateur. Soldwisch shot 70 at Palm Valley Golf Club to be low co-medalist and earn the trip to the National event. She missed the cut at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif.

“The US Girls Junior Amateur was absolutely surreal,” Soldwisch said. “El Cab and USGA outdid themselves. It was a memorable experience, even the results weren’t what I wanted. But I didn’t leave depressed or upset. I mean, I was upset, but that’s just how it is. Nothing good will come of thinking about what could have been. I just have to go and keep improving.”

The Charlie Teel Scholarship is awarded in honor of the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame professional who made a deep impact on golf in Southern Nevada. Junior golf was always near and dear to Teel, who left a large donation to the SNJGA following his passing.

Teel could be called the Founding Father of Las Vegas golf. He moved to Las Vegas in 1942, and quickly established himself as the best player in the area in addition to being a very influential local member of the Professional Golf Association of America.

He was a member of the original class of what was then called the Nevada Golf Hall of Fame, and it could be said that the implementation of the new Hall was because the state needed a place to fit in his trophy case. Mr. Teel collected an unprecedented 18 Las Vegas City Amateur and Southern Nevada Amateur titles, and was also a back-to-back Nevada State Amateur champion.