Tuesday, May 21
Fayetteville, AR
4:00 AM
USC
2
vs
3
Arizona (Team Match Play)
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
Malia Nam won her match 3&2 today.
Photo by: Paul Goldberg
USC Falls To Defending Champion Arizona In NCAA Quarterfinals, 3-2
May 21, 2019 | Women's Golf, Features
Abdulghany, Nam win matches, but Trojans couldn't secure final point.
Sophomore Alyaa Abdulghany and freshman Malia Nam each won matches 3&2, but the No. 1 USC women's golf team couldn't secure the elusive third point and fell in its NCAA Championships match play quarterfinal, 3-2, to defending national champion and fourth-ranked Arizona during a weather-interrupted Tuesday at the Blessings G.C. in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Trojans, the 2019 Pac-12 and NCAA Cle Elum champions who won seven matches this season in head coach Justin Silverstein's first-year at the helm of the program, extended their national-best streak of top 5 finishes to 14 years with the overall tie for fifth today.
But match play proved a riddle again for USC, one of two schools to advance to the eight-team bracket all five years since the championships adopted the new format. The Trojans, three-time national champions in the previous format, have reached the semifinals three times and quarterfinals twice now but have yet to reach the final.
"The re-start really killed us. It did all week. We did not do well in the re-starts. Why, I don't know. I was hoping the law of averages would work out and we would play well, but we didn't. I have no excuses for it," said Silverstein, who fell to his alma mater as well as to his former boss in Arizona head coach Laura Ianello.
"Playing a team with a ton of experience is much harder than playing one without it. I knew it would be a tough out."
USC held slim leads in four of the five matches in its morning meeting with the Wildcats when severe weather forced a five-hour delay. The match tightened after play resumed and Arizona ultimately prevailed.
Nam was the first Trojan to put a point on the board, defeating Yu-Sang Hou. The Trojan freshman never trailed in the match and led by as many as four holes before clinching it with a half on 7 (the 16th hole overall).
Sophomore Jennifer Chang squared off against Arizona's Bianca Pagdanganan. She never led but never trailed by more than two holes. She evened her match with a birdie on 10 and was down one hole for most of the second 9 before falling 2&1 on a Pagdanganan birdie on 8.
Sophomore Amelia Garvey, who tied for seventh in stroke play to lead the Trojans Monday, fell 2&1 to Yu Chun Chang. Garvey led by a hole for most of the first nine and was tied through 11, but fell behind on the 12th hole and couldn't come back.
Abdulghany evened the match with another 3&2 win over Sandra Nordaas. Like Nam, she never trailed and led by at least two holes throughout the second nine, winning in drama-free fashion.
The match came down to sophomore Gabriela Ruffels and Arizona's Haley Moore. Ruffels led by three holes on the first nine and held one-hole leads as late as on 5 before Moore, the hero of Arizona's national title run last year, evened the match on 6 and took her first lead on 7.
Ruffels drilled her par tee 3 shot on 8 to within two feet to win the hole and even the match, only to see Moore drain her 15-foot birdie putt to seal the match for Arizona.
USC falls to 3-5 in NCAA match play action, but returns all five players who teed off this week in Arkansas as well as junior Allisen Corpuz, who helped USC win its Pac-12 and regional titles.
The Trojans, the 2019 Pac-12 and NCAA Cle Elum champions who won seven matches this season in head coach Justin Silverstein's first-year at the helm of the program, extended their national-best streak of top 5 finishes to 14 years with the overall tie for fifth today.
But match play proved a riddle again for USC, one of two schools to advance to the eight-team bracket all five years since the championships adopted the new format. The Trojans, three-time national champions in the previous format, have reached the semifinals three times and quarterfinals twice now but have yet to reach the final.
"The re-start really killed us. It did all week. We did not do well in the re-starts. Why, I don't know. I was hoping the law of averages would work out and we would play well, but we didn't. I have no excuses for it," said Silverstein, who fell to his alma mater as well as to his former boss in Arizona head coach Laura Ianello.
"Playing a team with a ton of experience is much harder than playing one without it. I knew it would be a tough out."
USC held slim leads in four of the five matches in its morning meeting with the Wildcats when severe weather forced a five-hour delay. The match tightened after play resumed and Arizona ultimately prevailed.
Nam was the first Trojan to put a point on the board, defeating Yu-Sang Hou. The Trojan freshman never trailed in the match and led by as many as four holes before clinching it with a half on 7 (the 16th hole overall).
Sophomore Jennifer Chang squared off against Arizona's Bianca Pagdanganan. She never led but never trailed by more than two holes. She evened her match with a birdie on 10 and was down one hole for most of the second 9 before falling 2&1 on a Pagdanganan birdie on 8.
Sophomore Amelia Garvey, who tied for seventh in stroke play to lead the Trojans Monday, fell 2&1 to Yu Chun Chang. Garvey led by a hole for most of the first nine and was tied through 11, but fell behind on the 12th hole and couldn't come back.
Abdulghany evened the match with another 3&2 win over Sandra Nordaas. Like Nam, she never trailed and led by at least two holes throughout the second nine, winning in drama-free fashion.
The match came down to sophomore Gabriela Ruffels and Arizona's Haley Moore. Ruffels led by three holes on the first nine and held one-hole leads as late as on 5 before Moore, the hero of Arizona's national title run last year, evened the match on 6 and took her first lead on 7.
Ruffels drilled her par tee 3 shot on 8 to within two feet to win the hole and even the match, only to see Moore drain her 15-foot birdie putt to seal the match for Arizona.
USC falls to 3-5 in NCAA match play action, but returns all five players who teed off this week in Arkansas as well as junior Allisen Corpuz, who helped USC win its Pac-12 and regional titles.
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