Historic Women's Golf Season Ends In Semifinals
DEARBORN, Mich. – It couldn't have been any closer for the St. Mary's women's golf team at the NCAA Division II National Championship at TPC Michigan. After defeating third-seeded Findlay in the quarterfinals during the morning session, the Rattlers and Lynn University Fighting Knights tied 2-2-1 in the semifinals of the medal matches and a tiebreaker went the way of the Knights.
The two teams tied in cumulative strokes and with the first match tied between senior
Monica Dibildox (Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico) and Lynn's Adriana Iribarren, the deciding factor became the second pairing of sophomore
Estelle Beck (Lakeway, Texas) and Alice Gatti, which Gatti won by one stroke.
Both sophomore
Rebecca Reed (Midland, Texas) and senior
Sofia Ruescas (San Sebastian de los Reyes, Spain) won their battles by three and four strokes, respectively.
All five golfers for the Rattlers held the lead at some point during the match play and Ruescas led wire-to-wire, taking a one-shot lead on the first hole and stretching it to six after the 14
th hole before ending with a four-stroke advantage.
Earlier in the day, the Rattlers defeated Findlay 3-2 to advance to their first-ever NCAA semifinals. Diblidox won her match by six strokes, Beck was victorious by one stroke and Reed won by two strokes as the sixth-seeded Rattlers upset third-seeeded Findlay.
Diblidox was tied after the first hole in the quarterfinals, but grabbed a two-shot advantage on the 11
th hole, which was the team's second of the day and she ended up winning by six. Beck fought back in her match, trailing by as many as four before storming back to win by one.
Sophomore
Jordyn Wray (San Antonio) also stormed back in her match, but it wasn't enough. She trailed by nine through 16 holes, but birdied the eighth and shot par on the ninth to close the gap to five strokes. Ruescas had a nine-stroke disadvantage after 10 holes, but closed the gap to two strokes after shooting a 35 on the back nine.
Lynn will face its second-straight Lone Star Conference team on Saturday in the finals as DBU beat Grand Valley State in the semifinals, 3-2.
The third-place finish is the highest-ever finish for the Gold and Blue. The team placed fifth at the 2017 championship and sixth back in 2003.
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