ATLANTA, Ga. – In a rematch of last year's NCAA Championship final, Washington got the best of Stanford again on Tuesday in the match play semifinals of the East Lake Cup.
The third-ranked Cardinal, who earned the No. 1 seed Monday in stroke play qualifying, succumbed to the fourth-seeded Huskies, 4-1 at East Lake Golf Club. Freshman Andrea Lee was the lone winner, beating Euon Won Park, 5 and 4.
On Monday, Stanford combined for a four-player score of 6-under 282, while Washington finished at 28-over 316. But match play is unpredictable and the Huskies clicked on all cylinders.
There were similar results on the men's side. No. 1 seed Vanderbilt was downed by No. 4 Oregon, while No. 3 Illinois beat No. 2 Texas.
"I think this was a good thing for us," said Anne Walker, the Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf. "The curse of the No. 1 seed has been well-talked about. Today we had the opportunity to practice being the No. 1 seed and we did not do very well at it. We've got a lot of things to look at and see how we can do better in May."
The Cardinal will oppose sixth-ranked UCLA on Wednesday in the consolation final. The second-seeded Bruins lost 3&2 to third-seeded Duke, who will play Washington for the trophy.
Even with gallery support from former Cardinal great Mariah Stackhouse, who lives in the area, it wasn't enough to spark Stanford.
Reminiscent of 2016 NCAA title match last May at Eugene Country Club in Oregon, where the Huskies holed out several shots in the dramatic sudden death win, Washington closed out two matches Tuesday in similar fashion.
Casey Danielson couldn't overcome five birdies by Ellen Takada and dropped a 2 and 1 decision. Takada sealed the victory with a chip-in birdie at the par-4 17th.
Sierra Kersten led early but fell to Julianne Alvarez, 3 and 1; Albane Valenzuela was even with Sarah Rhee through eight, but dropped four consecutive holes and lost 5 and 4; and Shannon Aubert trailed 3-down at the turn and couldn't recover in a 5 and 4 defeat against Wenyung Keh. In the latter, Keh holed out her third shot from off the green at the par-5 14th for an eagle to clinch the win.
"Come May, I certainly do not want to play the Huskies again," Walker said. "They dug deep and played hard."
Wednesday's match wraps up the fall schedule for Stanford. Walker would like to finish strong.
"We're going to talk about a few things tonight and see if we can bounce back better tomorrow," she said.
The Golf Channel will provide live coverage of the consolation and final round matches starting at noon Pacific Time. For live scoring, go to gostanford.com.
