Wildcats Shock Top-Ranked Stanford in Dramatic Finish at La Costa

CARLSBAD, Calif. — In a moment that will live forever in Northwestern golf lore, junior Dianna Lee stepped over a 4-foot putt on the 18th hole with the program’s first women’s golf national championship hanging in the balance.

Three holes earlier, Lee held a commanding 3-up lead over Stanford freshman Andrea Revuelta in the deciding match. But this is match play, where comfortable leads have a way of evaporating quickly. After Lee missed a short putt at the 14th and Revuelta drained a 15-foot birdie at the 15th, the championship match was suddenly razor-thin.

The drama continued right to the end. Both players bogeyed the par-3 16th, with Revuelta missing a 4-footer that would have won the hole. At the 17th, Lee had an 18-foot putt to end the match but missed, then needed to sink a 5-foot comebacker just to maintain her 1-up advantage.

Championship Moment

At the par-5 18th, Lee faced another championship-clinching putt – this time from 18 feet for birdie. The putt looked good all the way before lipping out hard on the left edge and spinning 4 feet past the hole. When Revuelta’s 15-foot birdie attempt came up short, Lee had her chance.

The third time proved to be the charm. Lee calmly rolled in the 4-footer, ran into her teammates’ arms, and Northwestern had shocked the college golf world.

“More than doing what people didn’t think you could is this group believing what it thought it could do,” said Northwestern coach Emily Fletcher after the 3-2 victory over the defending champions.

David vs. Goliath Story

The upset was truly that – an upset. Stanford entered the championship as the tournament’s No. 1 seed after dominating the 72-hole stroke-play portion by 21 shots. The Cardinal were attempting to become the first team in the match-play era (beginning in 2015) to win back-to-back titles, having also captured the 2022 championship.

Northwestern, seeded third, had other plans. After Stanford grabbed the early point when Megha Ganne defeated Ashley Yun 5 and 4 in the leadoff match, the Wildcats responded with victories from Hsin Tai Lin (beating Meja Ortengren 3 and 2) and senior Lauryn Nguyen (defeating Paula Martin Sampedro 1 up).

Stanford’s Kelly Xu evened the team match with a 1-up victory over Elise Lee, setting up the dramatic finale between Dianna Lee and Revuelta.

Echoes of Tuesday

The championship finish mirrored Lee’s semifinal performance on Tuesday, when she let a late lead slip away against Oregon’s Kiara Romero (the world’s third-ranked amateur) before ultimately prevailing. This time, facing the world’s fourth-ranked amateur in Revuelta, Lee showed the same resilience when it mattered most.

The victory caps a remarkable season for Northwestern, proving that in match play, rankings and expectations often go out the window when players step onto the first tee. Sometimes, believing in what you can do matters more than what others think you can’t.