Coming off a season in which it won its seventh national championship in school history, it’s no surprise where the ASU women’s golf team landed in Golf World Magazine and Golfweek’s first rankings of the season: No. 1.

Eighth-year women’s coach Melissa Luellen said it was a nice feeling to be ranked first in the nation.

“This is the first time we have gone into the season ranked No. 1 since I’ve been head coach, so it’s exciting,” Luellen said. “But what really matters is where you’re ranked at the end of the year.”

The team is returning five golfers from its 2009 championship team of last spring.

Sophomores Carlota Ciganda and Giulia Molinaro, junior Jaclyn Sweeny and seniors Juliana Murcia and Liisa Kelo will return this season to defend their national title.

The rest of the 10-golfer roster consists of freshman.

In addition to the No. 1 ranking, four Sun Devil women golfers — Ciganda, Murcia, Sweeney and freshman Jennifer Johnson — have been mentioned in Golf World Magazine’s “Top 50 Female Players to Watch.”

“We have a different team and a different path this year, but our goal is to defend the national championship,” Luellen said.

The ASU women’s golf team began their season with a 3-day tournament Tuesday in Japan.

The majority of the ASU men’s golf team will also return for what has the makings of another impressive season.

Golf World Magazine has ranked the team sixth in the nation coming off ASU’s run to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Championships in the spring, where it fell to eventual champion Texas A&M.

The only golfer not returning to the team is Stephan Gross.

Gross turned pro at the beginning of August, a transition that head coach Randy Lien said he was ready for.

“After he won the European Amateur, and a number of other tournaments, he felt the time was right to turn professional,” Lien said. “Obviously I would have liked him to stay for a little longer and develop his game, but he’s going to do fine.”

Lien said he thinks the team has a good chance of winning the national title this upcoming season.

“The guys are all excited [about] how good a year we’re going to have based on how we finished last spring,” Lien said. “Oklahoma State and Washington finished off the year great and they have most of their team back like we do.”

Lien said the national championship this season is at the same course as when the Sun Devils won in 1996.

“These guys played great at the end of last spring and we were very close in the Elite 8,” he said. “We have five of our six golfers back, so it will be competitive.”

The men’s team will begin their season on Sept. 18 at the Olympic Fields Invitational in Chicago.

Reach the reporter at allison.carlin@asu.edu.