Fassi, Arkansas Win NCAA Regional Titles

AUSTIN, Texas – 2018 NCAA Women’s Golf Regional Champions!

The third-ranked University of Arkansas women’s golf team put together a dominating performance winning the program’s first NCAA Regional title and advancing to the NCAA Championship. Junior Maria Fassi flirted with the lead in the first two rounds and rallied with three consecutive birdies taking the lead on the 16th hole of the final round to win the individual title.

The Razorbacks posted their best round in a regional in program history on Tuesday with a 17-under 271 and finished the event shooting 26-under par 838. Fassi won with three rounds under par shooting 69–70–69—208 to claim the first individual regional title in program history. Junior Dylan Kim finished third and Alana Uriell and Kaylee Benton tied for fourth overall Cara Gorlei improved in the final round and finished tied for 38th overall.

The win is:
• The first NCAA Regional title for the women’s golf team
• The first NCAA Individual Regional title for the program
• A school-record seventh single-season tournament victory
• The second consecutive win following the program’s first SEC Championship two weeks ago

Low numbers were hard to come by in the final round with just three teams finishing the day under par.

Notes
• Arkansas has won a school record seven tournaments this season (previous best was three in a season)
• Coach Shauna Taylor has coached the Razorbacks to at least one tournament win in six consecutive seasons
• Coach Shauna Taylor has coached Arkansas to six top-5 NCAA Regional finishes including the program’s first title this year
• Arkansas has played to 10 top-4 finishes in 10 tournaments (7 wins, 2 runners-up and 1 fourth-place finish)

Regional Notes
• This is the first NCAA Regional title for the Razorback women’s golf team and the first individual title at a Regional
• Round two’s 17-under 271 is Arkansas’ best single round in a Regional in program history
• Arkansas has had six top-5 NCAA Regional finishes
• Alana Uriell’s 7-under 65 in round two in the best individual Razorback round in a Regional
• Arkansas was one of just two teams with four players under par for the tournament

Quotes
Head Coach Shauna Taylor, Arkansas (NCAA Austin Regional team champions):
We came here on a mission. We missed making it to Nationals as a team last year, and this group has done a fantastic job this year. This is just a part of the journey and a part of the process. Now that we’ve taken care of this one, we will go back and take finals and start preparing for Karsten Creek (NCAA Championships site). This time of the year you are looking for momentum. The last couple of weeks we’ve created some good, positive momentum moving in the right direction. We’ll make sure everyone stays healthy and in a good place, and we’ll try to go take care of business at Karsten Creek.

Maria Fassi, Arkansas (individual medalist at -8):
Today I played smarter than the last two days. It’s always great to win individually, but I think college golf is about winning with the team. I’m just really thankful that I was able to help the team come out on top. It really shows how well we are playing and how well-prepared we are. It’s great moving on to Nationals knowing that we won our region and had four players inside the Top 10. We’re in a great place, and it keeps adding momentum moving forward. That’s what we need right now.

The Lineup

The Field