When it comes to ACC women’s golf, it’s all about the Cavaliers. The Virginia women’s golf team defended its title at the ACC Tournament this past weekend in Greensboro, N.C., grabbing first place for the second consecutive year. In addition to the team’s first, senior Lauren Coughlin was crowned individual champion of the field of 60 in the 54-hole tournament.
No. 18 Virginia finished the three-day championship with an aggregate 9-under 855 — their best team score of the season. The Cavaliers led the tournament wire-to-wire to finish a comfortable 11 strokes ahead of Wake Forest, who finished a distant second. Duke (19-over 883), North Carolina (20-over 884) and NC State (22-over 886) rounded out the top five.
Coughlin — who posted a 9-under 207 on the weekend — won the title with a birdie on the 18th hole, after coming into 18 tied with Wake Forest freshman Jennifer Kupcho at 8-under. Coughlin — who also tied the low round of the tournament with her 6-under 66 in the opening round — became the first Virginia golfer to medal individually at the ACC tournament since Brittany Altomare did so in 2013.
In addition to Coughlin, two other Cavaliers recorded top-five finishes for the weekend, with junior Lauren Diaz-Yi (2-under 214) finishing fourth and freshman Anna Redding (Even Par 216) taking fifth. Senior Elizabeth Szokol and freshman Morgan Gonzales tied for 14th with scores of 5-over 221.
Virginia started the weekend with a solid 5-under 283 performance, which gave them an 11-shot cushion heading into Saturday’s second round. The team did stumble a bit Saturday — shooting 2-over 290 — which allowed the Demon Deacons to pull within six strokes of the lead entering Sunday’s final round.
However, the pressure didn’t phase the Cavaliers one bit. The team posted a 6-under 282 — the low round for the tournament — Sunday to close out the championship.
Following Virginia’s stellar performance this weekend, the team should have considerable confidence heading into the NCAA Tournament Regional Rounds, which take place May 5-7.
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