CARLSBAD, Calif. — Stanford’s Megha Ganne closed out her collegiate career with a short par putt to win the clinching match Wednesday as the Cardinal beat the University of Southern California, 4-1, for their third NCAA Division I women’s golf championship in the past five seasons.
This was Stanford at its absolute best: earning the No. 1 seed for the sixth straight year by finishing 13 shots better than the next-best team in stroke play, USC, and then crushing every opponent in its way in match play until it secured the program’s fourth national title.
Ganne had a relatively easy time in the anchor match against Bailey Shoemaker, who did not make a birdie in 15 holes at La Costa Resort. Ganne wound up winning 4 and 3.
Meja Ortengren, who played her worst golf of the week Monday with an individual title on the line, rallied over the last two days with superb play and defeated Jasmine Koo, 6 and 5, in the shortest match of the final three rounds.
Paula Martin Sampredo moments later closed out USC’s Catherine Park, 3 and 2, and then it was a matter of time for Stanford to get the final point.
About the only thing the Cardinal didn’t do was reach its motivational goal of capturing all five matches in all three rounds. Stanford was credited with 5-0 victories over Pepperdine in the quarterfinals and spunky Eastern Michigan in the semifinals.
Once a team clinches victory with three points, all matches on the course end with the scores they are on. USC’s Kylie Chong was 1 up over Andrea Revuelta on the 18th hole. In another match in progress, Stanford senior Kelly Xu was 1 up over Elise Lee through 16 holes.
Stanford did not trail at the turn in any of the five matches. Ganne was 4 up over Shoemaker through five holes, and Ortengren was 5 up at the turn over Koo, who had four bogeys on the front nine and falling behind.
“Unfortunately we got off to a slow start. Against a team like this, you can’t give them that many holes,” USC coach Justin Silverstein said. “It’s part of the game. There’s no shame in losing to Stanford, a team as good as I’ve seen.”
Stanford, which defeated UCLA for the NCAA title in 2024, was upset in the championship match a year ago against Northwestern. This squad showed determination to not let that happen again.
“Winning a national championship has been the only goal for us since last year,” Ortengren said. “Every single day since that day last year has been working toward this moment.”
The Cardinal’s four NCAA titles trail only Arizona State’s eight and Duke’s seven. Stanford has won all four since 2015 with Anne Walker as the head coach, pulling together elite players from all over.
Walker walked the entire way with Sampedro in the leadoff match.
“Paula never opened the door,” Walker said. “And from what I hear, that’s what they all did.”