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Charlottesville, VA The No. 3 Virginia women’s golf team received the top seed for the NCAA East Regional Championship the NCAA announced today. It marks the fifth straight year Virginia has received a bid to the NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers will compete at the East Regional Championship May 7-9 at the University of Florida Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. The top eight teams from each of the three 21-team regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships along with the top two individuals from each site. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 19-22 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
The NCAA’s Central Regional will be played at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio and the West Regional is being held at Arizona State’s Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
The field for the East Regional includes (listed by seed): Virginia, Auburn, Alabama, North Carolina, Duke, Denver, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Tulane, Florida, East Carolina, Mississippi, South Carolina, Furman, College of Charleston, Florida State, Central Florida, Coastal Carolina, Stetson and Jackson State.
“I am delighted for our team to receive such a high seed for this year’s regional because it is a reflection of how hard our players have worked this season and a compliment to their level of success,” said second-year coach Kim Lewellen. “The girls are focused on the regional and returning to the NCAA Championships which is at the same course where they had an outstanding outing at the Fall Preview in September.”
The Cavaliers enter postseason play ranked No. 3 by Golfstat and No. 5 by Golfweek. Calle Nielson is ranked No. 28 in the individual standings while Whitney Neuhauser is No. 32 and Jennie Arseneault is No. 41. Neuhauser leads UVa with a 73.04 stroke average while Nielson is second at 73.67 and Arsenault is third at 74.04.
Virginia is one of six ACC teams to receive an invitation to this year’s national championship.
Virginia, which fielded its first team in 2004, has qualified for the NCAAs each season since 2005, when the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA Championships, finishing 13th overall. Last year UVa returned to the NCAA Championships, finishing 12th overall, after placing fifth at the East Regional.
Central Regional Columbus, Ohio
UCLA, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Wake Forest, Louisville, Kent State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Stanford, New Mexico, Georgia State, Notre Dame, NC State, Washington, Kentucky, UT Chattanooga, Michigan, Murray State, Illinois State, Harvard and Fairleigh Dickinson.
West Regional Tempe, Ariz.
Arizona State, Southern California, LSU, Pepperdine, Arkansas, San Jose State, Arizona, California, UC Irvine, San Francisco, UNLV, TCU, Texas A&M, Oregon, Long Beach State, Colorado, Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Northern Arizona and Oral Roberts.