Aggies, Gamecocks' run comes to an end in match play
Charlotte, NC - SEC Tounament Champion Texas A&M won its morning quarterfinal match to advance to the afternoon semifinal matches at the 2023 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club. The Aggies advanced with a 3-1 win to eliminate Texas to ulitmately compete against Wake Forest where they would fall short 3-0.
Texas A&M Quaterfinals
With A&M up 2-1, Adela Cernousek broke open a tie match on No. 15 and carried the one-hole lead all the way onto the 18th tee box. Cernousek simply needed to halve the hole to clinch the victory, and her careful two-putt finish pushed Texas A&M over the top.
The match was a tightly contested one throughout, as the teams each held two points at the turn with one match halved.
Zoe Slaughter struck first for A&M. Up a hole after 12, she would birdie 13 to take a two-hole advantage and would extend it to three after a par on 15. Slaughter halved the 16th to end her match, 3 and 2.
After Jennie Park fell 2 and 1 to tie the score, the Aggies' clutch play late would prove the difference. Stepping up to the 18th tee tied, Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio would win the hole and put A&M one point away from advancing.
Hailee Cooper had a one-hole lead on the 18th fairway as the team match came to a close.
Semifinals
Wake Forest earned the first two points of the match as Slaughter lost, 2&1, and Cooper was defeated 4&2.
Fernández García-Poggio teed off on 18 and it went far left on opposite side of the cart path from the fairway. Her next shot landed in a bunker about 60 yards from the green. The Aggie's next attempt landed six feet from the pin and gave her an excellent birdie look. Wake Forest was in for par, but Fernández García-Poggio missed the putt to give the Deacs their clinching point, 3-0, with Cernousek and Park's matches going unfinished.
South Carolina
The Gamecocks put the first point on the board but the Trojans prevailed in some tight matches down the stretch thanks to clutch putting.
Mathlide Claisse was dominant in a 6&5 victory. She made the turn with a 5-up lead and sunk four birdies in 14 holes.
Senior Justine Fournand fell 2&1. She lost on the 17th hole after lipping out a par putt to extend things to 18. Sophomore All-American Louise Rydqvist also fell 2&1. She just missed a birdie putt on hole 17 to stay 1-down with two holes to play.
Hannah Darling was making a comeback bid late in her match against Amari Avery. She was going to win at the par-5 seventh hole to pull things to 1-down with two holes to go, but her match was conceded as the Trojans got their third and decisive point up ahead at the par-3 eighth. Mia Sandtorv Lussand fell 3&2. She battled back after going 2-down to tie things with six holes to go but Southern Cal's Catherine Park won three of the next four holes to seal a victory.
The Gamecocks finish the 2023 NCAA Championship T-5th, which ties 2012 and 2016 for the best showing all-time in program history. Carolina made its second match play appearance today and first since 2016.