Ninth-Ranked UVa Golfers Advance to NCAA Championships

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May 9, 2015

St. George, Utah – The ninth-ranked Virginia women’s golf team earned a spot at the NCAA Championships after finishing fifth at the NCAA Regional in St. George, Utah. The top six teams from four NCAA Regional sites advance to the national championship tournament that takes place May 22-27 at the Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

Virginia will be making its eighth NCAA Championships appearance in the 12-year history of the program. The Cavaliers were the third seed at the regional site. It was UVa’s 11th NCAA regional appearance.

Virginia shot 6-over 294 during Saturday’s final round of play to finish the three-day, 54-hole tournament at 46-over 898. Top-ranked USC won the regional at 28-over 880. Also advancing from the site were Stanford (886), Arkansas (892), UNLV (895) and California (898). The seventh-place team was New Mexico State. The Aggies finished nine shots behind the final qualifying team at 909.

Virginia had some work to do after shooting 24-over 308 during the opening round, the team’s highest single-round total of the season. The Cavaliers posted a second-round score of 296 and finished with their best 18-hole total, shooting 6-over 294 on Saturday. That score tied as the best round of the day.

“I’m very proud of the patience the team displayed this week and their maturity really showed after we got off to a poor start Thursday,” said Virginia coach Kim Lewellen. “This was the type of course that took the driver out of our hands and that’s usually a strength for us, so our players made some adjustments, stayed patient and grinded it out the last two rounds. We’re super excited to be going back to the NCAA Championships.”

Junior Lauren Coughlin (Chesapeake, Va.) was the Cavaliers top finisher, shooting 5-over 221 to place ninth, the fourth top-10 performance of her career. It marked the second consecutive year she has been UVa’s top finisher at a NCAA Regional site.

Classmate Elizabeth Szokol (Winnetka, Ill.), a transfer from Northwestern in her first season at UVa, claimed 13th place by shooting 7-over 223. Both Coughlin and Szokol shot 3-over 74 during the final round at the par-71 Entrada at Snow Canyon course.

Senior Briana Mao (Folsom, Calif.) carded her best round, shooting 1-over 72 to move up to 24th overall at 225. Sophomore Lauren Diaz-Yi (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) finished 41st at 229 and freshman Lyberty Anderson (Chesterfield, Va.) was 72nd at 236.

“Lauren Diaz-Yi was really under the weather this week and seeing her shoot 72 and 74 during the final two rounds was remarkable,” Lewellen said. “That was really a gutty performance when we needed it the most.”

Teams from the three other regional sites that qualified for the NCAA Championships are:

Notre Dame Regional
1. Duke (873), 2. Wake Forest (876), 3. UC Davis (884), 4. Arizona (886), 5. Tulane (888) and 5. Purdue (888)

Raleigh Regional
1. South Carolina (877), 2. Northwestern (885), 3. NC State (887), 4. Alabama (888), 4. LSU (888) and 6. Campbell (892)

San Antonio Regional
1. Baylor (842), 2. UCLA (845), 3. Tennessee (850), 4. Texas A&M (854), 5. Washington (862) and 5. Texas A&M (862)

NCAA Regional
St. George, Utah
Entrada at Snow Canyon
Par 71, 6,255 yards
Final Results

Team Results 1. USC                      293-292-295-880 2. Stanford                 304-292-290-886 3. Arkansas                 306-296-290-892 4. UNLV                     301-304-290-895 5. Virginia                 308-296-294-898 6. California               297-305-298-900 7. New Mexico State         305-306-298-909 8. TCU                      313-302-295-910 9. Vanderbilt               319-297-296-91210. SMU                      308-303-303-91411. Colorado                 316-308-291-91612. San Diego State          315-310-294-91813. Wisconsin                303-308-308-91913. Middle Tennessee State   313-303-303-91915. Miami                    316-306-302-92416. Denver                   315-308-307-93017. Northern Arizona         317-323-311-95118. Albany                   331-322-326-979
Individual Results1. Dana Finkelstein, UNLV      72-72-67-2112. Alana Uriell, Arkansas      75-72-69-2162. Gaby Lopez, Arkansas        73-72-71-2164. Gabriella Then, USC         74-76-67-2175. Annie Park, USC             72-71-75-218
Virginia Results 9. Lauren Coughlin      74-73-74-22113. Elizabeth Szokol     76-73-74-22324. Briana Mao           75-78-72-22541. Lauren Diaz-Yi       83-72-74-22972. Lyberty Anderson     83-78-75-236="http:>="http:>="http:>="http:>="http:>