STILLWATER, Okla. - Fifth-seeded Stanford put up a gallant fight before exiting the NCAA Championships at Karsten Creek Golf Club on Tuesday, defeating Northwestern before falling to Arizona. Senior captain Shannon Aubert shelved two wins to cap her magnificent Cardinal career.
"I'm very proud of this team and what we were able to accomplish this season," said Anne Walker, Stanford's Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf. "This morning against Northwestern, our putts were falling and we navigated the course well. Making putts is the key to match play, and we were not able to do that as well against Arizona."
Stanford, winners of the NCAA San Francisco Regional, is the only team to advance to the match play portion of the NCAA Championships.
The Cardinal started the day by pulling out a 3-2 win over fourth-seeded Northwestern in the quarterfinals.
Aubert took care of business early, 4&3, with Albane Valenzuela securing another point, 5&4. Andrea Lee won 1-up over Janet Mao to help the Cardinal advance to the semifinals against eighth-seeded Arizona, one of the hottest teams in the tournament.
In the semifinal matchup, Arizona escaped with a 4-1 decision.
But the Cardinal did not go down without a fight.
Ziyi Wang (5&3) and Albane Valenzuela (6&4) were defeated to put Stanford in an early 2-0 hole.
All eyes turned to Mika Liu and Arizona's Haley Moore, where the Cardinal freshman was 3-down after the 10th hole. Liu and Moore matched each other for the next six holes, as Moore's par on No. 16 notched the win for the Wildcats.
Aubert (1&1) won the final match of her career, leaving Stanford as the nation's only player to compete in four straight match-play portions of the NCAA Championships.
