Stanford and UCLA Emerge from NCAA DI Women's (aka Pac 12) Semifinals

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- When the spring college sports season ends, the Pac 12 Conference will cease to exist. Some of its teams are headed for the Big Ten. A couple of them will be in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), as if that makes any sense. Others will be in the Mountain West. It's a sad ending for what used to be one of the three or four most important conferences in the country. 

But if golf, and not football, were the sport that really mattered in college athletics, the Pac 12 would probably still be going strong. In any case, as far as golf is concerned, the Pac 12 will go out of business in a blaze of glory, because on Tuesday, the NCAA Women's semifnals were played -- and all four of the teams involved were from the Pac 12. And on Wednesday, Stanford will play UCLA for the title. 

Stanford, the No. 1 team in the match-play seedings (the Cardinal tied LSU for first in the 72-hole stroke-play qualifying that ended Monday), dispatched No. 4 Southern Cal 3-1-1 in the semis, and No. 6 UCLA overcame No. 7 Oregon, and the Ducks' fabulous freshman Kiara Romero, 3-1.

The tougher match of the day for Stanford was probably the morning quarterfinal against No. 8 Auburn. Sadie Englemann, a senior from Austin, Texas, won the individual match that set the tone for the Cardinal. She went out first and played the Tigers' long-hitting, left-handed freshman Anna Davis, who won the Augusta National Women's Amateur two years ago -- as a junior in high school. It was a match Stanford probably wasn't counting on winning, but Englemann won it on th 19th hole. 

Once the Tigers lost that point, the wind went out of their sails, and Stanford beat them 3-0.

UCLA faced No. 3 Texas A&M in the quarters, which meant that one of the Bruins had to take on Adela Cernousek, who won the NCAA Women's individual championship on Monday. Actually, Cernousek won it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday by shooting 4-under-par 68s three days in a row on the La Costa Champions Course. That gave her a six-stroke lead, and she held on for a three-stroke victory, with a 72-hole total of 12-under 276.  

But  she went off fourth on Tuesday morning  (out of the five players who compete for each team in the match-play portion of the tournament) in the Aggies'  quarterfinal match against UCLA, and by the time she got to the sixth tee -- her  15th hole, and she was 1 down to Kate Vllegas at that point -- the team match was over, and UCLA had a 3-0 victory. In the NCAA tournament, once the team result is determined, any match that isn't completed is stopped, and labeled "unfinished."
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NCAA Women's Championships

At La Costa Champions Course

Par 72, 6,297 yards

Carlsbad, Calif.

Fiinal stroke-play results (individual standings are final; the top 8 teams advance to match play)

1. Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M         68-68-68-72--276 (-12)

2. Lotte Woad, Florida State                  65-74-71-69--279 

3. Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford    70-72-70-70--282

T4. Aine Donegan, LSU                       74-67-71-71--283

T4. Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas          72-68-71-72--283

6. Kiara Romero, Oregon                     75-66-71-72--284

7. Annabelle Pancake, Clemson          69-69-75-72--285

8. Julia Lopez Ramirez, Miss. St.         71-69-73-73--286 

9. Carla Tejedo Mulet, LSU                  71-71-70-75--287

T10. Megha Ganne, Stanford              72-70-72--74--288

T10. Phoebe Brinker, Duke                  69-73-74-72--288

T10. Latanna Stone, LSU                     71-73-73-71--288

T10. Zoe Campos, UCLA                      74-69-74-71--288

T10. Mimi Rhodes, Wake Forest           72-72-74-70--288

15. Brianna Navarossa, Southern Cal  75-72-71-71--289

Did not make 54-hole cut -- 220

T86. Bella McCauley, Minnesota         74-78-75--227   
 

Teams (the top eight teams will go to the quarterfinals of match play.)

T1. Stanford                          285-285-285-299--1154 (+2)

T1. LSU                                 289-286-288-291--1154

3. Texas A&M                        281-284-289-303--1157

4. Southern Cal                     299-283-296-287--1165

5. Clemson                            280-293-293-304--1170

T6. UCLA                              291-283-300-297--1171

T6. Oregon                           294-283-299-295--1171

8. Auburn                              285-290-301-296--1172

Did not advance to match play

9. Wake Forest                     295-292-297-290--1174

10. Arkansas                        288-290-299-300--1177

T11. Texas                           299-286-302-295--1182

T11. Northwestern               285-293-295-309--1182

T11. Florida State               287-302-300-293--1182

14. Duke                             286-293-304-301--11184

15. Mississippi State          287-297-301-301--1186

Match play

Quarterfinals 

No. 1 Stanford def. No. 8 Auburn 3-0

S. Englemann (S) def. A. Davis (A) 19 holes

R. Heck (S) def. A. Foster (A) 4&3

K. Xu (S) def. K. Cranston (A) 4&2

M. Ganne (S) & C Weidenfeld (A) unfinished

P. Martin Sampedro (S) & M. Schofill (A) unfinished


No. 4 Southern California def. No. 5 Clemson 3-1

C. Parkl (USC) & M. Barrientos (C) unfinished

A. Avery (USC) def. C. Holder (C) 6&5

B. Shoemaker (USC) def. I. Rawl (C) 3&2

B. Navarrosa (USC def. S. Roberts (C) l7&5

A. Pancake (C) def. C. Kou (USC) 4&3


No. 7 Oregon def. No. 2 LSU 3-2

C. Chen (O) def. C.Tejedo Mulet (LlSU) 1 up

M. Nagano (O) def. T. Riley (LSU) 7&6

L. Stone (LSU) def. T. Huang (O) 3&2

I. Lindblad (LSU) def. K. Tsuru (O) 4&3

K. Ramero (O) def. A. Donegan (LSU) 1 up


No. 6 UCLA def. No. 3 Texas A&M 3-0

M. Royal (UCLA) def. B. Fernandez Garcia-Poggio (A&M) 1 up

C. Canales (UCLA) def. C. Fernandez Garcia-Poggio (A&M) 2&1

N. Vo (UCLA) def. Z. Slaughter (A&M) 3&2 

A. Cernouseik (A&M) & K. Villegas (UCLA) unfinished

J. Park (A&M) & Z. Campos (UCLA) unfinished  


Semifinals  

No. 6 UCLA def. No. 7 Oregon 3-1

C. Canales (UCLA) def. K. Tsuru (O) 7&5

M. Royal (UCLA) def. C. Chen (O) 4&3

N. Vo (UCLA) & K. Villegas (O) unfinished

K. Romero (O) def. Z. Campos (UCLA) 4l&3


No. 1 Stanford def. No. 4 Southern California 3-1-1

A. Avery (USC) def. R. Heck (S) 2&1

S. Englemann (S) def. C. Kou (USC 6&5

P. Martin Sampedro (S) & B. Shoemaker (USC) unfinished

M. Ganne (S) def. B. Navarrosa 2&1

K. Xu (S) def. C. Park (USC) 3&2