Northwestern Finishes Runner-Up at NCAA Championships

5/24/2017 6:36:00 PM | Women's Golf

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. — Northwestern women's golf fell to Arizona State in the final round of match play at the 2017 NCAA Championships at Rich Harvest Farms.

MATCH PLAY RESULTS

The 'Cats lost by a score of 3-1-1 to the top-ranked program in the nation, per Golfweek.

"So proud. That was hard-fought this afternoon," said head coach Emily Fletcher. "There was no give up in our kids. They showed up and were ready to play. All of the credit to ASU and Missy and Michelle and that team. They played great this afternoon. We hung with them for quite a while. It was close for a bit. It was just really hard-fought. I'm so proud of our kids."

The second-place finish is the best in program history for Northwestern. The Wildcats, under the leadership of Fletcher and assistant coach Beth Miller, have earned the best finish in program history for five straight seasons: earning 15th-place results in 2013 and 2014, a 10th-place finish in 2015 and then a ninth-place standing last spring.

Chicago's Big Ten Team had a remarkable run at the NCAA Championships. The top-seeded 'Cats handily earned the stroke play crown, topping second-place Stanford by nine strokes. A gutty 13-over performance in miserable conditions in the first round helped the Wildcats with their end-to-end stroke play leadership.

In match play, the 'Cats continued to shine. The squad handled eighth-seeded Kent State 3-2-0 on Tuesday morning and stunned Southern California in come-from-behind fashion Wednesday morning after trailing in four matches when play was suspended for darkness.

Kacie Komoto, playing in her final collegiate event, won the match over Sofia Zeeb, 3&1. It was evenly played for about 11 holes, when Komoto turned the motors on and gave the 'Cats their first point.

"For the fans to come out and support us it meant the world to us," she said. "I knew if I heard a really loud cheer on the course I knew it was for us."

Hannah Kim was also dominating in the final round, finishing all-square against the NCAA Championship individual medalist Monica Vaughn. Kim, a second-team WGCA All-American, commanded a 3-up advantage into the back nine.

Playing in the anchor match, Stephanie Lau hung extremely tight with Linnea Strom of ASU. Falling to 2-down by the seventh hole, she battled back and made a tremendous 45-foot eagle putt on No. 11 to edge the advantage to 1-down. Strom was able to put the match away, however, with a strong performance in her final few holes.

Sarah Cho took her first defeat in NCAA Championships match play, coming into the round with an untouched 2-0 mark. She fell, 4&3, to Olivia Mehaffey.

Fresh off of a remarkable putt to send the 'Cats into the final round, Janet Mao lost, 5&4, to Roberta Liti.

"I don't think it has quite sunk in yet what all that we are going to take away from this," said Fletcher. "What I just said to the kids was that you don't get too many chances to play for a national championship. It is the first one we have had in the history of our program. We are going to try to build off of it. It is only going to be a positive. It has been a tremendous week and I'm so proud."

The Wildcats will return four of the five members of the Championships lineup and eight of 10 members of the team overall.