Carlsbad, Calif. – Clemson women’s golf’s historic run through the NCAA Championship ended on Tuesday, as the No. 5 seed Tigers fell 3-1-1 to the No. 4 seed USC Trojans in the Match Play Quarterfinals at the Omni La Costa North Course (6,297 yards, par 72).
Annabelle Pancake rallied from being down two early to win four-straight holes and take the match from Cindy Kou, 4&3. Melena Barrientos, playing against Catherine Park, the No. 10 ranked player in the nation and top-ranked USC player, was never down by more than one and led for three holes before ending in a tie.
Isabella Rawl dropped her match 3&2, while Chloe Holder fell 6&5 and Sydney Roberts fell 7&5.
Tuesday marked Clemson’s first-ever trip to match play at an NCAA tournament, in just the 11th year of the program. Annabelle Pancake won the first NCAA Championship match in school history after finisHing 7th overall in stroke play for the highest individual finish in program history. The Tigers entered the tournament as the No. 16 overall seed and finished stroke play fifth.
Head Coach Kelley Hester
On the team’s performance this week:
“We have a great group of young ladies and to make it to match play was our goal. Our team enjoys match play, because we like the mindset of it. We came out strong and played really well the first day and then pretty decently the next two days. We struggled a bit yesterday but still managed to get the No. 5 seed. I’m really proud of this group. I think it shows our team and what we are capable of, and we have four players coming back from this team.”
On Omni La Costa:
“I think none of us knew really what to expect coming out, but Omni La Costa has done a great job rolling out the red carpet for this championship for the players, the teams and the coaches. It is an unbelievable task to rebuild a golf course and to have us be the first people to play it. We just keep trying to learn the golf course a little more. I think it was setup for scoring today and we were able to manage some of the scoring on our side, but unfortunately Southern Cal just scored a little bit better.”
Looking back on the season:
“We end the year in a higher ranked position than any team in Clemson women’s golf history. It’s a young history, just 11 years and 10 opportunities because of the COVID year. It is really exciting. We have built a great culture and four of these ladies will be back next year, so I’m looking forward to the future.”
