BATON ROUGE – The LSU Lady Tiger program, ranked 30th in the country, was selected for NCAA post-season play for the 19th time in the 21-year history of regional competition as the team was selected to play in the West Regional at Palo Alto, Calif., the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee announced on NCAA.com Monday night.
The Lady Tigers will be part of a 24-team field that will participate in the regional, May 9-11, at the University of Stanford Golf Course. The top eight teams from that regional will advance to the NCAA Women’s Championship event later in the month at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens.
In all, 72 teams were selected and divided into three regionals. The other two regional events, also advancing eight qualifying teams, will be held at Auburn University (East Regional) and in Norman, Okla. (Central Regional).
This is the 10th consecutive regional LSU has advanced to and the Lady Tigers will be trying to make their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships, where they have finished third each of the last two years. LSU has advanced to the Championships 12 times since the NCAA began conducting a team golf championship in 1982.
The Lady Tigers were given the 10th seed in the regional, meaning they will have to advance by at least two teams to get through to the NCAA Championships.
Others advancing to the field in the West Regional by seed order are: 1. USC; 2. Arizona; 3. Vanderbilt; 4. Purdue; 5. Stanford; 6. Georgia; 7. Baylor; 8. Texas A&M; 9. Pepperdine; 10. LSU; 11. Denver; 12. South Carolina; 13. Ohio State; 14. Oregon; 15. UNLV; 16. California; 17. Florida State; 18. Miami; 19. San Jose State; 20. Harvard; 21. Kent State; 22. Northern Arizona; 23. North Dakota State; 24. Long Island.
“It’s a very good site,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen after the selections. “We are excited to be going out to Palo Alto. We are very familiar with the golf course and we have had some experience there so I’m looking forward to bringing this team out and playing the golf course and I think it will be great. It’s just a matter of us going out and playing some good golf.”
In all a total of 13 SEC teams were selected for the post-season by the SEC. Besides Vanderbilt, Georgia, Texas A&M and South Carolina joining LSU in the West Regional, other SEC teams are: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn and Ole Miss in the East; and, Florida and Mississippi State in the Central.
NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals (Conference champs in parenthesis)
East Regional – Auburn University
1. Alabama (Southeastern Conference)
2. Arkansas
3. UCLA
4. North Carolina
5. Virginia
6. Oklahoma State (Big 12 Conference)
7. Tulane (Conference USA)
8. Texas
9. Notre Dame (Big East Conference)
10. Northwestern (Big Ten Conference)
11. Tennessee
12. Kentucky
13. Texas State
14. Auburn
15. Central Florida
16. Penn State
17. East Carolina
18. Florida International (Sun Belt Conference)
19. Mississippi
20. East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun Conference)
21. Tennessee-Chattanooga (Southern Conference)
22. James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association)
23. Eastern Kentucky (Ohio Valley Conference)
24. Alabama State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
Central Regional – University of Oklahoma
1. Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
2. Oklahoma
3. Florida
4. Washington
5. Arizona State
6. UC Davis (Big West Conference)
7. Texas Tech
8. North Carolina State
9. Michigan State
10. Iowa State
11. Southern Methodist
12. Campbell
13. Coastal Carolina (Big South Conference)
14. Wake Forest
15. TCU
16. Gonzaga
17. Indiana
18. UTSA
19. Mississippi State
20. Wisconsin
21. Lamar (Southland Conference)
22. Illinois State (Missouri Valley Conference)
23. Detroit (Horizon League)
24. Butler (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
West Regional – University of Stanford
1. Southern California (Pac-12 Conference)
2. Arizona
3. Vanderbilt
4. Purdue
5. Stanford
6. Georgia
7. Baylor
8. Texas A&M
9. Pepperdine (West Coast Conference)
10. LSU
11. Denver (Western Athletic Conference)
12. South Carolina
13. Ohio State
14. Oregon
15. UNLV (Mountain West Conference)
16. California
17. Florida State
18. Miami (Fla.)
19. San Jose State
20. Harvard (Ivy League)
21. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
22. Northern Arizona (Big Sky Conference)
23. North Dakota State (Summit League)
24. Long Island (Northeast Conference)