EUGENE, Ore. – After knocking off third-seeded Southern California in the morning, the sixth-seeded Duke women's golf team had its run at the NCAA Championship come to an end in the semifinals as the Blue Devils dropped a 3-2 decision to second-seeded Stanford at the Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
Duke's loss marks the second straight season the Blue Devils have fallen in the semifinals as last year Baylor won 3-2.
The two teams opened action Tuesday afternoon off hole one and went on the course for another 18 holes, after taking down the Trojans, 4-1, in the morning. The Blue Devils dropped the first hole in three of the five matches to go down early, but Duke fought back and had a chance to make it interesting at the end.
“Well, I mean we played great this morning, USC is a great team and we felt great about that,” said Duke head coach
Dan Brooks. “Stanford is a great team so we had to play great twice and we didn't get it done and that is okay.”
After cruising to a win in the morning, sophomore
Gurbani Singh dropped holes three and four to go 2-down through four holes against Maria Stackhouse. Singh, who is from New Delhi, India, fell behind 4-down after No. 8 and couldn't recover. She lost the match 3&2. Singh now owns a 7-5 career mark in match play.
Senior
Celine Boutier also won in the morning and went up against Stanford's Sierra Kersten in the afternoon. A native of Montrouge, France, held a 10-1 record in match play over her career, but went on to fall, 4&2. Boutier won the first hole to go 1-up, but lost the next two to fall 2-down through four holes. She dropped holes seven and eight to fall 3-down, but tried to make a comeback.
Boutier responded with a win on No. 9 and then on No. 10 she had a great shot out of the sand and won the hole with a par to go 1-down. Kersten then notched wins on three straight holes to go ahead 4-up. Boutier would end up falling 4&2 and Duke trailed 2-0.
With three matches still remaining,
Virginia Elena Carta led 1-up,
Sandy Choi was all square and
Leona Maguire was 1-down at the time when Boutier's match finished.
Choi, who hails from Seoul, South Korea, trailed 1-down over the first three holes, after suffering a bogey on No. 1. Choi posted a par on No. 4 to get the match to all square and never trailed the rest of the way against Lauren Kim. A birdie on No. 7 by Choi gave the junior her first lead, which she held for four holes. A three-putt bogey on No. 12 by Choi sent the match back to all square.
Choi connected on another birdie on the par five 17th to take a 1-0 lead with one hole remaining.
Shortly before, Maguire had registered a par on the 16th to get her match all square as well with two holes remaining. A product of Cavan, Ireland, Maguire hooked her drive on No. 17 out of the fairway to the left and had to hit a low shot under trees down the fairway. Meanwhile, her opponent, Casey Danielson, hit her approach onto the par five green and featured an eagle putt. Maguire hit her third shot onto the green, but had a lengthy birdie putt. Danielson two-putted for birdie and then Maguire had a par on her way to falling 1-down with one hole remaining. Needing to win No. 18 to extend the match, Maguire two-putted for par and Danielson also had a par to win 1-up and clinch the win for Stanford.
“Her standards are really high and she doesn't feel like she played as well as she could have,” commented Brooks on Maguire. “I didn't see the very first part of her match and I think that's where she had the most trouble. The parts that I saw, the latter part, I thought Casey Danielson played really good golf and so did Leona. They were both battling and it was a really great battle.”
Choi's match was stopped and she was given a 1-up victory.
A day after winning the NCAA Individual title, Carta held a 1-up lead with three holes remaining against Shannon Aubert as the match was clinched for the Cardinal. In the match, Carta led by as many as 2-up on the front nine, before it went to all square through seven. Carta sank a birdie on No. 10 to regain the lead, but lost the 13th to get the match back to all square. She went back ahead with a birdie on No. 14 and had another birdie on No. 15 as well. Carta's 1-up win moved her to 5-2 this season in match play.
“Well we wanted to win the National Championship both times so they are both a little bit disappointing,” commented Brooks on falling in the semifinals two years in a row. “I try to remind the team that with the talent we see in our sport right now, to not only be a team on the top and to play all the way to the last four in the final tournament, you have to be really proud of that. And to do it twice in a row, you have to feel really good about it.”
Duke will lose Boutier to graduation, but will return the other four starters at nationals along with rising junior
Lisa Maguire. The Blue Devils will also welcome international standout
Ana Belac to the roster in 2016-17.
Boutier concluded her decorated career as a two-time first team All-America, 2013-14 National Player of the Year, four-time All-ACC selection, 2014 ACC Player of the Year and 2014 ACC Champion. She helped Duke win the 2014 NCAA Championship, where she finished second overall as an individual.
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