USC and Stanford were bounced from the quarterfinals of match play in the NCAA Division I Women’s Championships after a six-hour rain delay at Blessings Golf Club https://arkansasrazorback.comthe-blessings-golf-club in Fayetteville, Ark.
Defending national champion Arizona, seeded sixth after stroke play, defeated the Pacific 12 Conference rival and third-seeded Trojans, 3-2, while second-seeded Duke slipped past No. 7 Stanford, also by a score of 3-2.
Haley Moore (pictured), a senior from Escondido who scored the winning point to give the Wildcats the NCAA title a year ago, came from 3 down to again make Arizona a winner with a 1-up victory over Gabriela Ruffels.
Moore said she was inspired by watching a replay of last year’s final on Golf Channel during the rain delay.
“That did give me some confidence, because I did make some good putts coming down the stretch there and I was like, ‘it could happen,’” said Moore, who sank a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
In other matches, Arizona’s Bianca Pagdangnan downed Jennifer Chang and Ya Chun Yang defeated Amelia Garvey, both by 2 and 1 scores, while Malia Nam of USC beat Yu-Sang Hou and Alyaa Adbulghany bested Sandra Nordas, both by 3 and 2.
Virginia Elena Carter gave Duke its winning point against Ziyi Wang of Stanford with a five-foot birdie putt on the 24th hole in a match that tied the longest one since the NCAA went to the match play format five years ago.
Duke also got 1-up victories from Gina Kim over Albane Valenzuela, and Ana Belac over Mika Liu, while Andrea Lee of Stanford needed 19 holes to defeat Jaravee Bonchat, and Aline Krauter beat Miranda Wang, 2 and 1.
In the other matches, eighth-seeded Auburn rallied to upset top-seeded Texas, 3 and 2, while fifth-seeded Wake Forest slipped past fourth-seeded host Arkansas and individual champion Maria Fassi, also by a 3 and 2 score.
In the semifinals, Duke will face Arizona and Wake Forest will take on Auburn.
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