WINTER GARDEN, Fla. — The St. Mary's University Women's Golf team posted two victories on Friday to extend their fantastic season one more day, advancing to the NCAA Division II National Championship Finals, where they will square off against the University of Indianapolis.
StMU reached the finals after beating top-seeded Flagler 3-1-1 in the quarterfinals and Findlay 3-2 in the semifinals. Medal match play is scored by the cumulative number of strokes won by rather than the number of holes won. The player up by the most strokes after 18 holes wins the match, and the team victor is decided by the majority of the five matches.
"These girls are absolute fighters," said Director of Golf
Connor McCarthy. "Nothing has been easy about this week, but they continue to overcome the obstacles. Whether it's making the cut for medal match play or beating the number one seed, it's been fun watching them grind through the toughest day in Division 2 golf."
The Rattlers and Greyhounds tied for seventh place during the stroke play segment of the championship, each tallying 876 over the first 54 holes to reach the medal match round. UIndy reached the finals after knocking out a pair of Lone Star Conference foes in West Texas A&M in the quarterfinals (2-2-1) and DBU (4-1) in the semifinals.
"We are extremely grateful for the opportunity tomorrow," said McCarthy. "We look forward to facing an extremely talented UIndy team."
The teams will tee off between 8:30 a.m. and 9:02 a.m. (ET) on Saturday, teeing off every eight minutes from hole one.
QUARTERFINAL RECAP (Flagler, 3-1-1)
Freshman
Savannah Dupre carded a 71 (-1) to win her match by four strokes and set the Rattlers up with the lead as she was the first back in the clubhouse. The pair were tied after 15 holes, but Dupre finished par-par-birdie, while Henriette Stranda finished double bogey-bogey-par to give the freshman the win.
The Saints tied the match, by winning the second pairing as Stella Jelinek defeated senior
Estelle Beck-Dixon (Lakeway, Texas) by nine strokes. Beck-Dixon shot a 79 in the team's fourth round of the tournament.
Senior
Libby Kilbride (Sheffield, England) worked the tie as both players were +3 with rounds of 75 to give each team a half-point in the scoring. Kilbride trailed by as many as five strokes after seven holes, but chipped away at the lead, tying things up on the 13th green.
Senior
Rebecca Reed (Midland, Texas) and her opponent, Sophie Wheeler, were tied after six holes, but Reed managed to stretch her advantage to five holes after 13 and held on to win by two strokes, 70-72.
Junior
Orla O'Leary (Galashiels, Scotland) clinched the victory with her 79, defeating Shanya Arasu by three strokes. The match was tied on the front nine, but O'Leary made par on three of the first four on the back nine to grab the lead.
SEMIFINAL RECAP (Findlay, 3-2)
Dupre kept the momentum rolling through her second round of 18 holes on the day, winning by 11 strokes (73-84). The first-year player is averaging 73.2 strokes per round over her five rounds at the Orange County National – Panther Lake Course. Her +11 margin is the second-largest in NCAA Division II Medal Match play history, second only to a +16 by Katie Whitfield from Arkansas Tech in the 2021 quarterfinals.
The Oilers knotted the score at 1-1 with the second group in. Gabby Woods edged out Reed 69-74, taking the lead on the first hole and never relinquishing it.
O'Leary shaved eight strokes off her morning round, winning 71-74 against Hayley Dye. The two were tied after the 13th hole, but O'Leary gained the edge with a birdie on 14 and closed with a birdie on 18, while Dye bogeyed 18 for the three-stroke difference.
Beck improved by one stroke in the second round of the day, shooting a 78, but dropped the match to Erin Mulcahy by two strokes, 76-78. The two were tied after the front nine, with Mulcahy gaining the lead on hole 10 and keeping it for the remainder of the afternoon.
Kilbride clinched the victory for the Rattlers with her 68-71 victory over Mary Kelly Mulcahy. The tandem was knotted after the first four holes when Kilbride posted a par on five, with Mulcahy sinking a putt for a bogey. Kilbride ran with the lead, maintaining it throughout the final 13 holes and capping off the day with a birdie on 18 with her teammates and Rattler fans watching.
