Stanford Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas – No. 7 Stanford saw its season come to an end on Tuesday night in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals at the Blessings Golf Club. The Cardinal lost to No. 2 seed Duke, 3-2, with the final match going 24 holes and tying for the longest match in NCAA Women's Golf history.
 
"That's probably one of the better matches we've ever had just as far as quality of golf goes and the consistency of the demands on the players to make big putts to match pars, or birdies or to make birdies to get a hole back," Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf Anne Walker said. "For Emily to come from down three and eventually push it six holes and lose on a birdie, it was phenomenal. I'm just incredibly proud of all the players top to bottom and the way they contributed to this event.
 
"We made Duke work to beat us today, and they did, so give them credit."
 
The match began at 8 a.m. CT, but was delayed for nearly six hours shortly after 10 a.m. local time. Play resumed at 4:15 p.m. CT. Duke appeared to have the match nearly locked up, as Albane Valenzuela and Mika Liu were both defeated 1-up in their matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 pairing, respectively. Valenzuela trailed by two holes in her match two different times, but twice battled back to tie it. Her opponent, Gina Kim of Duke, would birdie 18 to win the match. Liu led twice by two strokes, but a bogey on 18 would signal a loss in her match.
 
With the Cardinal down 2-0, freshman Aline Krauter locked up her match, 2&1. Krauter trailed by two strokes through eight holes, but went on to win each of the next four holes to flip the match and lead by two through 14. Duke got a stroke back on the 15th, but Krauter would win 17 to clinch the match and the first Stanford point.
 
The heroics came at the No. 1 pairing and also the No. 4 pairing. Ziyi Wang trailed Virginia Elena Carta from Duke by three holes with three holes to play, but would chip in for birdies on 16 and 17 and then convert a par to force a playoff by winning the last three holes.
 
After Wang converted a par on hole No. 1 (No. 19), the entire match rested on the shoulders of Andrea Lee to continue for the Cardinal. After falling behind by one hole at 15, Lee tied the match at 16. She nearly won the match on the 18th green with an incredible putt, but would force a playoff with a par. On the first playoff hole (No. 1), Lee converted a birdie to win the match and even the overall score at 2-2.
 
Wang's playoff at the No. 1 pairing nearly came to an end on the par 3 third, as her birdie putt found every inch of the cup, except the bottom, and the match continued. Wang and Carta both registered pars on the fourth and fifth playoff hole. With darkness nearing, both players his solid tee shots off No. 6. Wang's was left of the green while Carta's laid up in front. Carta was able to convert hers into a birdie to win the match, a match that was tied for the longest in NCAA history at 24 holes.
 
"In this moment, we came up a little bit short," Walker continued. "But you have to have the players and the experience and the season that even puts you in a position to be a national champion, and we did that. That's all you can do. We made it to match play again for the fifth consecutive year, which is just an unbelievable run. And we went to 24 holes to be kept from going to our fifth straight final four. It never comes easy, we work hard for it, but we've been very fortunate to enjoy the success that we've had at Stanford."
 
PAIRINGS
Carta (24 holes) Z. Wang
Kim (1 up) Valenzuela
Belac (1 up) Liu
Lee (19 holes) Boonchant
Krauter (2&1) M. Wang