ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The No. 43 UCF women’s golf team earned their way to the 2019 NCAA National Championship in Fayetteville, Ark., after finishing sixth by one stroke at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional in Cle Elum, Wash., on Wednesday, May 8.
Representing UCF will be Ana Laura Collado, Maria Balcazar, Elizabeth Moon, Alyssa Lamoureux, and Chinatsu Kobayashi. The Knights will tee off at 9:21 a.m. ET Friday morning to begin the first round.
This will be the second appearance the program has made in a National Championship with the only other time being in 1996 where the team finished 15th.
The national championships will be May 17-22 at The Blessings Golf Club, a par-73, 6,473-yard course in Fayetteville, Arkansas hosted by the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
The championship format consists of all 24 teams and 12 individuals (132 players) completing 54 holes of stroke play. The top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team advance for one additional day of stroke play to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion. The top eight teams then compete in match play for the championship.
The final three days of the championships will be televised live by the Golf Channel.
Freshman Elizabeth Moon will return to her home state of Arkansas to compete for a national championship 276 miles from her hometown of Forrest City.
At the regional, the Knights were led by sophomore Ana Laura Collado who led the tournament overall all three days until the final hole. Collado finished second after shooting 206(-10), which was the second-best score among all four regionals and her 54-hole total was the second-best in program history.
The Knights were tied for sixth heading into the final round and the team shot eight-under on the back nine to punch their ticket to their second-ever national championship appearance.
UCF finished ahead of for 12 other schools and compiled six Power 6 wins to advance.
To follow live stats for the tournament, please visit golfstat.com.
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