Mariah Stackhouse rallied to give Stanford the deciding point with a par on the 19th hole that beat Hayley Davis of Baylor, and the Cardinal claimed its first NCAA Women’s Championship at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
Stackhouse, a junior All-American from Riverdale, Ga., trailed most of the way and was 3 down after eight holes, but pulled even with birdies to take the 17th and 18th holes before winning the first extra hole to give Stanford a 3-2 victory over the Bears.
“When I was sleeping last night, I could not sleep at all because I knew it would all come down to me,” Stackhouse said. “I actually thought a lot about it last night. It felt kind of silly, but I envisioned some kind of crazy finish with me having to hit huge shots. I knew I was going to be down and I was going to have to do something crazy to come back.”
Casey Danielson, a sophomore from Osceola, Wis., and Shannon Aubert, a freshman from Stuart, Fla., won their matches for the Cardinal and both wound up 3-0 in the match-play portion of the tournament. Stackhouse went 2-1.
Danielson defeated Laura Lonardi, 2 up, and downed Lauren Whyte, 4 and 3, as Stanford took a 2-0 lead, but Baylor got even when Dylan Kim beat Lauren Kim, 3 and 1, and Giovana Maymon got past Quirine Eijkenboom, 4 and 3.
This is the first year the NCAA Women’s title was determined by match play.
