The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 11 Women’s Golf falls in NCAA Match Play quarterfinals
05.24.2023 | Women's Golf
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The No. 11 Texas women's golf team advanced to match play for the third time in the last four seasons, but dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 6 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of match play at the NCAA Championships on Tuesday at Grayhawk Golf Club.
The Longhorns tied for fifth at the 2023 NCAA Championships, which marks the program's best finish since placing third in 2003. It was the 11th top-five NCAA finish for the Longhorns all-time. Texas also finished T5 at the 2019 and 2021 NCAA Championships.
The Longhorns finished as the No. 2 seed after stroke play with a 14-under par score through four rounds of competition.
Freshman Cindy Hsu fired a one-under par 71 on Monday to finish T10 on the individual leaderboard with a 72-hole total of five-under-par (72-69-71-71). Hsu is the fourth Longhorn since 2000 to finish top-10 at the NCAA Championships and only the second freshman to accomplish the feat over that span.
Sophie Guo and Bohyun Park shot under par on the final day of stroke play. Guo carded a round of three-under-par 69 to finish T21 on the leaderboard at one-under-par for the tournament. Park fired a four-under-par 68 on Monday to finish T31 on the leaderboard at one-over-par.
Sophie Guo put Texas on the board with a 2&1 win in her match against Texas A&M. Bentley Cotton trailed by two after three holes and fought back to tie the match on hole six. Bohyun Park trailed by two through nine holes, but made par on 12 to tie the match. Angela Heo made three birdies on the front nine and led her match 2-up through six holes. After going down one on the 14th hole, Heo made birdie on 17 to tie the match, but lost the 18th hole. Cindy Hsu came back from down three and birdied the eighth hole and eventually got the deficit to one on the 12th hole.
The Longhorns were making their 31st NCAA Championships appearance and their seventh straight.
The Longhorns won the Cactus Cup and the Big 12 Match Play events this season and tallied three runner-up finishes and nine top-five finishes. The Longhorns posted a 123-38-2 head-to-head record on the season.
Notables
• The Longhorns qualified for match play for the third time in the last four seasons after finishing in second place after the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championships.
• The Longhorns have made the top 15 at the NCAA Championships for the sixth straight year.
• Texas is one of four programs that advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last seven seasons.
• Freshman Cindy Hsu was the top Texas golfer in stroke play at T10. Hsu shot all rounds of stroke play at par or better and has now carded 12 rounds at par or better this season. Hsu finished top-10 in her first two collegiate events, including an eighth place finish at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate in her first event.
• The 12-under 276 in the second round of the NCAA Championships was a program record for 18 holes at an NCAA Championships. It was tied for the 12th best round in program history. It also tied for the second best team round in NCAA Championship history among all schools.
• Freshman Angela Heo's 6-under par 66 was the best individual round in program history at the NCAA Championships for the Longhorns. It tied for the sixth-best score relative to par for a round in program history.
• Texas finished as the best team in the field in par-4 scoring over the four rounds of stroke play.
• Sophie Guo tied for third in the field for most birdies over the four rounds of stroke play with 18. Guo has played in the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in each of the last three events.
Texas Head Coach Ryan Murphy
"Obviously not the ending we wanted. It was very close today with three of our matches going to 18. It could have gone either way and it just happened to be their day. We've got many positives to look back on, however. Finishing second in the stroke play portion of the event was phenomenal. Cindy finishing top 10 is sensational for a freshman. Angela's 66 was a record. Bo's 68. Bentley's week was very solid start to finish. And Sophie bounced back from a slow start to post three great scores for us and also to get her match play win today.
This team fought today, this week and throughout this season. We had our moments winning a couple of times and having a couple other runner-up finishes. There is much to be proud of and we'll be strong again next season."
MATCH PLAY QUARTERFINALS
No. 8 Texas A&M 4, No. 11 Texas 1
Sophie Guo (Texas) def. Jennie Park (Texas A&M) 2&1
Zoe Slaughter (Texas A&M) def. Cindy Hsu (Texas) 3&2
Blanca Fernandez Garcia Poggio (Texas A&M) def. Angela Heo (Texas) 1-up
Adela Cernousek (Texas A&M) def. Bohyun Park (Texas) 1-up
Hailee Cooper (Texas A&M) def. Bentley Cotton (Texas) 1-up
Players Mentioned
