USC finished fourth in the NCAA Women's Golf Championships in Daytona Beach yesterday. Duke absolutely blistered the field with a total +18 and their championship win was never in doubt after the second round. The Pac 10 was well represented in the top 5 with Purdue finishing second, UCLA third and Stanford fifth.
I watched it on line for a little while and I was hoping to do some live updates but there was too much going on so it just wasn't possible.
From the SC Website
USC, the 2003 NCAA title winner in its 10th consecutive NCAA Championships final under 11th-year head coach Andrea Gaston, posted a combined 291 fourth round, tied for the third best round in the 24-team, four-day event. The strong final round helped the Trojans squeeze into fourth place with a 72-hole, 44-over 1196 (295-306-304-291). USC was second last year.
Duke won its third straight team title at 18-over, 1170. Purdue was second (1185), UCLA was third (1186), USC was fourth (1196) with Stanford fifth (1197). Rounding out the top 10 was Vanderbilt (1200), Pepperdine (1202), Georgia (1205), Auburn (1213) and Louisville (1214).
USC was in fifth for much of the final round before passing Stanford during the last few holes. USC's fourth-place finish is its seventh top 5 result in school history.
Moreno got off to a bit of a slow start and never really took off, though her 1-under 71 was solid enough get her tied for second. Starting on the 10th hole and after shooting bogies on the 18th and 1st holes she then had birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 8th holes to secure her tie for second place. Arkansas' Stacy Lewis was on fire in her winning the individual title, erasing a six-stroke deficit behind third-round leader, Purdue's Christel Boeljon.
Also from the website.
"It's hard to ignore (the leaderboard). I asked coach `How are we doing?' and she told me we were one back of Stanford in fifth and that I was in third. We wanted to catch Stanford. I then got the birdie on 8 (the 17th hole of the round) and finished strong knowing what we needed to do. I was happy for the team and myself.
"We're very happy," Moreno continued. "Dewi and Belen played really well and Veronica did well, just struggled at the end. It was good to have a consistent round. It's hard to coordinate the scores and we did it today when we needed to."
Moreno's tie for second was her third top 2 finish in USC's last five outings and sixth in the top 10 this season.
Also, Moreno was named by the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) First Team All-American.
Moreno and Mozo become USC's 15th and 16th women's golf All-Americans. Moreno is Troy's eighth All-American first team pick.
Moreno fired a final-round 1-under 71 to finish 2-under overall with a 286 (73-72-70-71), tied for second with Purdue's Christel Boeljon. Arkansas' Stacy Lewis won the individual title, erasing a six-stroke deficit behind third-round leader Boeljon. Lewis won the event thanks in large part to a fourth-round 66, winning with a 282.
Moreno's effort helped USC to fourth overall, its third top five finish in the last five seasons. USC won the 2003 NCAA title and was second last year.
Congrats to both Paola and Belen in their achievements.
Fight On!