Stanford and USC will play for the women’s championship in the East Lake Cup.
Albane Valenzuela birdied the last two holes and the Cardinal avenged a loss to Arizona State in the NCAA semifinals last spring, 3-2, while the Trojans downed Northwestern, 4-1, at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
“It stung a lot in May, so at least we could get a little bit of revenge today,” Stanford
Coach Anne Walker said. “We dug a little deeper.”
Valenzuela (pictured), a sophomore from Switzerland, gave Stanford its winning point with a 1-up victory over Roberta Liti after Shannon Aubert beat Sophia Zeeb, also 1 up, and Emily Wang downed Madison Kerley, 4 and 3.
“I hit four really good shots coming down the stretch, but I gained some momentum on No. 16 when I made my par,” said Valenzuela, who made the winning putt from four feet. “So it was just about committing to each shot and staying in the present. It was great to be able to make that last putt for my team.”
For Arizona State, Olivia Meheffey routed Madeline Chou, 8 and 7, and Linnea Strom got past Andrea Lee, 1 up.
Alyaa Abdulghany started USC toward its victory with a 3-and-2 victory over Sarah Cho of Northwestern before individual champion Robynn Ree beat Stephanie Lau, also by 3 and 2, Allisen Corpuz defeated Brooke Riley by another 3 and 2 score, and Divya Manthea scored a 2-and-1 victory over Janet Mao.
Northwestern got its only point with Hannah Kim’s 3-and-2 victory over Muni He.
“I’m proud of them all,” USC Coach Andrea Gaston said. “Being invited to East Lake was spectacular for us and is a great experience. They all know (match play is) a different game. You have to watch what your opponent is doing, but still play the golf course. I also told them, let’s just have fun out there. It’s beautiful.”
Oklahoma beat Illinois, 3-2, and will play Vanderbilt, a 4-1 winner over Oregon, in the men’s final.
For complete results, visit http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/nonav.cfm?pg=pairings&tid=15040.
