UVA Set to Battle at NCAA Regional

May 6, 2018

Charlottesville, Va. – The No. 31 Virginia women’s golf team opens play at the NCAA Regional in Madison, Wisc. on Monday at Wisconsin’s University Ridge Golf Course. The 54-hole tournament runs May 7-9. The Cavaliers are the No. 8 seed in the field.

Virginia is paired with Iowa State and Wisconsin during the opening round. Those three teams begin play at 8:45 a.m. from the No. 1 tee.

The top six schools from each of four 18-team regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships along with the top three individuals not advancing from a team from each site. The NCAA Championships are scheduled for May 18-23 at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

Virginia will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 10th time in the program’s 15-year history.

The field at the Madison site includes ACC Champion and No. 1 seed Duke along with (in seed order) USC, Arizona State, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Iowa State, Virginia, Wisconsin, Campbell, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Old Dominion, Oregon State, Idaho, Murray State, North Dakota State and IUPUI.

The Cavaliers’ lineup for the tournament features juniors Morgan Gonzales (Chandler, Ariz.), Katharine Patrick (Houston, Texas) and Anna Redding (Concord, N.C.), sophomore Julia Ford (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and freshman Beth Lillie (Fullerton, Calif.).

Redding leads UVA with a 73.00 stroke average this season while Lillie is second at 73.19. Redding has been UVA’s top finisher in five of nine tournaments this season. Lillie is coming off a fifth-place finish at the ACC Championships. Both players were named to the All-ACC team this season.

The 2018 NCAA Regional marks the 13th time in the 15-year history of the program that Virginia has received a bid to the NCAA Championships. Virginia will be looking to advance to the NCAA Championships for the 10th time. The Cavaliers’ top regional finish was a third-place performance in 2011. UVA placed fourth in 2009 and has been fifth five times (2015, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2005). UVA has had two first-place finishers at NCAA Regionals. Current assistant coach Calle Nielson was the first to accomplish the feat, placing first in 2010 at the West Regional at Stanford. In 2016, Elizabeth Szokol shared first-place honors, also at the Stanford Golf Course.

Virginia is one of 11 ACC teams to receive an invitation to this year’s national championship. Also qualifying were Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Louisville, Miami, NC State, North Carolina and Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

Live scoring of the tournament will be available at Golfstat.com.