SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After 72 holes of stroke play, 20 quarterfinal and 10 semifinal matches, the field at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship is down to just two.
No. 2 Oregon controlled most of its match against No. 3 Texas A&M and was the first team to punch its ticket to the final, earning the first three points all without having to play the 18th hole. After their 4-1 win, the Ducks will square off against top-seed and the nation’s No. 1 team Stanford, who took down the No. 5 seed Auburn in a tightly contested match, 3-2.
“I’m incredibly excited to have this opportunity. It’s not easy to get this far, so as a coach, I certainly don’t take these things for granted,” said Oregon head coach Derek Radley. “I just feel like we’re so strong from top to bottom, all five. I have firm belief in no matter who we’re playing, we’re going to be right there and give ourselves a chance.”
Ching-Tzu Chen put the first point on the board for the Ducks with a 2-and-1 victory over Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, who had aced the par-3 16th to extend the match. Chacon followed suit with a 2-and-1 victory of her own for the second point. Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu put the third and deciding point on the board with a par on the 16th to seal the deal for the 3-and-2 win.
Oregon is attempting to win its first national championship in women’s golf after claiming the first Pac-12 title and NCAA Regional title in program history earlier tis season. The No. 2 team in the nation set a program record with five wins this year and placed inside the top five in all 11 starts. The entire lineup from last year’s squad that missed match play by just two shots will compete Wednesday.
“We’re gonna keep doing what we do. We need rest,” said Radley. “Today is probably the most mentally, physically challenging day of golf they have probably ever played in their whole lives and so we’re gonna go back to the hotel and get some rest but we’ll be ready.”
The Ducks will need to be ready because waiting on the first tee will be the top-ranked Cardinal, who won five times in the first six events of this season. Stanford also earned four runner-up finishes and has its worst finish of T-3 in nearby Phoenix at the Ping/ASU Invitational in March. The Cardinal boast a lineup that features the last two individual national champions in Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck.
Zhang dominated her match against Mychael O’Berry to earn Stanford’s first point, 5 and 4, but Auburn’s Megan Schofill evened the team match with a 4-and-3 victory over Sadie Englemann. Brooke Seay, who won the Elite 90 award with the highest cumulative grade-point average among those participating at the finals for each of the NCAA’s 90 championships, won 1 up over Kaleigh Telfer with a birdie on the par-5 18th. Aline Krauter, a former walk-on turned every-round starter for Stanford, flipped her match with Anna Foster on the back nine to win, 2 and 1, and help propel Stanford to the final.
Wednesday’s final – 4:35 p.m. ET with Golf Channel televising live coverage from 5-9 p.m. ET – marks the first time in the women’s match-play era that the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds will meet in the final. The women’s No. 1 seed has never won the title in match play.
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