No. 54 Golf Finishes Ninth at SDSU Farms

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – The 54th-ranked Miami Hurricanes women’s golf team was unable to make up any ground in the final round Tuesday, finishing ninth at The SDSU Farms Invitational.

USC shot an even-par 288 in Tuesday’s final round to claim the team tournament title by a 21-stroke margin over second-place Arizona (32-over 896). Pepperdine finished third at 40-over 904, followed by Texas (46-over 910) in fourth and UNLV (50-over 914) in fifth.

No individual golfer finished the tournament under par as USC’s Sophia Popov shot a final-round 74 to claim individual medalist honors at 1-over 217. Arizona’s Manon Gidali finished second at 2-over 218, followed by USC’s Annie Park in third at 3-over 219.

Miami’s best individual finisher was sophomore Leticia Ras-Anderica, who tied for 19th at 12-over 228. It was Ras-Anderica’s team-leading fifth top-25 finish of the season. Ras-Anderica’s 75 was the Hurricanes’ lowest score of Tuesday’s final round.

“We didn’t do well today,” assistant coach John Koskinen said. “The good thing about it is that we beat everyone we’re supposed to beat.”

Freshman Christina Ocampo, who was tied for eighth after Sunday’s first round, tied for 35th overall at 18-over 234 after turning in a final-round 76. Junior Carina Cuculiza tied for 46th at 21-over 237, while sophomore Rika Park tied for 60th overall at 30-over 246.

Freshman Laura Hendee finished 76th with a final tally of 42-over 258.

“No non-ranked team placed above us,” Koskinen said, “and the benefit of playing tournaments with tough opponents is that if we don’t place very well, it won’t hurt us in the rankings as much.”

With the regular season complete, the Miami Hurricanes women’s golf team will gear up for the postseason April 19-21 at the ACC Championship in Greensboro, N.C.