ATLANTA. Ga. – The Stanford women's golf team came up just short Wednesday for the second straight year in the championship finals of the East Lake Cup at East Lake Golf Club.
As was the case in 2017, the top-seeded Cardinal fell to second-seeded USC, 3-2. The Cardinal received early wins from junior Albane Valenzuela and sophomore Mika Liu but lost the last three matches against the No. 1-ranked Trojans.
It marked the fourth consecutive year Stanford has qualified for the elite event limited to women's and men's semifinalists from the previous year's NCAA Championships.
The Cardinal earned the first seed on Monday during the stroke play portion of the tournament, beating USC by 10 strokes. Valenzuela captured the individual title by one shot by eagling the par-5 18th hole.
Stanford advanced to the championship finals by defeating Alabama on Tuesday, 4-1.
Leading off for the Cardinal on Wednesday, Valenzuela capped a memorable week by beating Jennifer Chang, 6 and 4. Valenzeula never trailed and was 3-up at the turn.
Liu led all the way against Amelia Garvey and was 2-up after nine holes. She won 12 and 13 to build a 4-up advantage and coasted to victory.
Junior Ziyi Wang succumbed to Malia Nam, 3 and 1, while freshman Aline Krauter and junior Andrea Lee dropped 2 and 1 decisions to Alyaa Abdulghany and Gabriela Ruffels, respectively.
Stanford concludes its fall campaign at the Pac-12 Preview at Nanea Golf Club in Hawaii on November 5-7.