WGOLF Xu during NCAA Championship Finals 5-21-25WGOLF Xu during NCAA Championship Finals 5-21-25
Ben Nichols
Women's Golf

Repeat Bid Comes up Just Short

Stanford drops NCAA Finals 3-2 to Northwestern

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The quest to become the first repeat NCAA champion in nearly 20 years came up just short for top-seeded Stanford women’s golf. The Cardinal met No. 3 Northwestern in the finals match, and it came down to the final match on the 18th green. Northwestern was able to survive the final putt and clinch its first-ever women’s golf national championship, ending Stanford’s season in heartbreak.

All of the drama came down to the 18th hole, where Andrea Revuelta needed to win the hole to extend the match. She put herself in that position after winning on 14 and 15, turning a three-stroke deficit to Dianna Lee into a one-stroke deficit. On 18, Revuelta and Lee were both in position to make a birdie putt. Lee lipped hers out first, which gave Revuelta a chance to win the hole. She came up just in front of the cup, settling for par. That meant Lee could win it for Northwestern, and she made her short putt to win the title.

Stanford got on the board first after a quick win from Megha Ganne 5&4 over Ashley Yun. Playing off the momentum from yesterday’s thrilling win over Lottie Woad in 20 holes, Ganne won the first two holes and took five of the first eight from Yun before coasting the rest of the way.

The Cardinal then dropped a couple of points in short order to fall behind 2-1. The pivotal swing was in Paula Martín Sampedro’s match against Lauren Nguyen. Martín Sampedro was two strokes down but won on 16 and 17 to tie the match heading to 18. In a similar moment to what would happen to end the night, Martín Sampedro had a chance for a birdie but missed her putt. Nguyen was able to sink it and clinch the point.

Kelly Xu got the second point for Stanford, and like her teammates, she did so in comeback fashion. She was down one stroke heading to 16, but then knocked down clutch birdie putts on both 16 and 17 to take a 1up lead to the final hole, where she was able to close out Elise Lee. The victory runs Xu’s NCAA match play record to 7-1, tied with Shannon Aubert and Casey Danielson for the most NCAA Championship match play wins in history.

Stanford’s season ends with nine stroke-play wins, the most in a single season in program history, and six individual winners. Stanford is the first team since 2015-16 to reach the finals in consecutive seasons, when they also did so in the first two years of NCAA match play.

No. 3 Northwestern def. No. 1 Stanford, 3-2

  1. Megha Ganne (STAN) def. Ashley Yun (NU), 5&4
  2. Lauren Nguyen (NU) def. Paula Martín Sampedro (STAN), 1up
  3. Hsin Tai Lin (NU) def. Meja Örtengren (STAN), 3&2
  4. Kelly Xu (STAN) def. Elise Lee (NU), 1up
  5. Dianna Lee (NU) def. Andrea Revuelta (STAN), 1up

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5*