Stanford is one win away from making NCAA women’s golf history after Megha Ganne’s clutch birdie putt on the 20th hole defeated world No. 1 Lottie Woad, sending the Cardinal to the national championship match.
Stanford will face Northwestern Wednesday at La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. A win would make them the first team in the match-play era (since 2015) to capture back-to-back national titles.
The Cardinal advanced by taking down Florida State, 3 ½ to 1 ½, while Northwestern edged Oregon, 3-2 in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Stanford jumped to an early lead against FSU with Paula Martin Sampedro winning 5-and-3 and Kelly Xu cruising to a 5-and-4 victory. But the remaining three matches proved much tighter, all requiring extra holes.
Seminole junior Mirabel Ting, the world’s second-ranked amateur, couldn’t close out her match in regulation against Andrea Revuleta. Meanwhile, Woad held a 1-up lead through 14 holes over Ganne but needed a birdie on 17 to extend the match to sudden death.
The drama peaked on the second playoff hole, the par-4 15th. Ganne stuck her approach to 7 feet while Woad answered with a shot to 12 feet. After Woad missed her birdie attempt, Ganne drained her putt dead center to secure the clinching point for Stanford.
Northwestern’s path to the finals came down to the wire. Junior Dianna Lee defeated Oregon’s star sophomore Kiara Romero 2 up in the deciding match. Lee had two chances to close it out on 17 but couldn’t convert. Romero, the world No. 3, found trouble in the back bunker on 18 and after failing to escape in two attempts, conceded the hole and match.
Stanford’s championship pedigree is undeniable. They’ve won three titles since the format switched to match play (2015, 2022, 2023), and now have a chance to make history. The last team to repeat as women’s national champions was Duke in 2007, when the tournament was still decided by 72 holes of stroke play.
The championship match begins at 6 p.m. EDT.
