By
Kyle Faraday
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The Arizona women's golf team captured its second consecutive Pacific 10 Conference title yesterday by withstanding a late surge from the rest of the field.
The Wildcats carded a final round of 288 to finish the tournament with a team score of 873, three strokes better than second-place Stanford.
"I'm extremely happy for the team because of what we have been through this year," first-year UA head coach Greg Allen said. "With all the adversity, injuries, having a new coach and so many different lineups, this is especially rewarding. One thing we've talked about is peaking at the right time, we've wanted to be a post-season team."
Individually, Arizona was led by a pair of freshmen.
Lorena Ochoa out dueled teammate and fellow freshman Natalie Gulbis in two sudden-death playoff holes for the individual title.
Ochoa, the nation's top-ranked player, led the Wildcats with a final round - and tournament low - score of 69. Her individual title is the fourth of her short career and the seventh consecutive top-three finish.
Gulbis continued her consistent play in the final-round by shooting a 1-under-par 71 for the day. The freshman shot a 71 in all three rounds of the tournament to finish in a tie for first before losing the playoff.
Also finishing in the top-20 for Arizona was junior Cristina Baena, who carded a three-day total of 223 (+7) to finish in a tie for 15th place. Sophomores Laura Myerscough (228, +12) and Anne Lee (229, +13) also helped pace the Wildcat attack.
The Wildcats were without the services of sophomore Julia Kraschinski, who will miss the rest of the season after enduring chronic back problems over the past nine months.
Five holes into the final round, Arizona was a combined seven strokes under par before withstanding a late surge by second-place Stanford to wrap up action at 1-under-par for the day.
"There was a lot of pressure out there today," Allen said. "Being the program that we are and being the defending conference and national champs, there has always been a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations. The team certainly withstood that pressure today."
Rounding out the top-five team finishes was tournament-host Arizona State (883), Southern California (886), and Washington (890).
The Wildcats will next travel to Corvallis, Ore., for the NCAA West Regional Championships on May 10, where they will attempt to win their sixth tournament championship of the season.
Last year, Arizona followed a Pac-10 title with a convincing five-stroke victory at the NCAA Regionals.
