Photo courtesy of Auburn Athletics
Auburn's win over Texas A&M in the championship match of the East Lake Cup was as one-sided as its come-from-behind victory over Oregon was dramatic, however, both were equally as shocking.
One day after Casey Weidenfeld pulled out a win over Oregon's Cindy Lou on
the 19th hole after being two holes down with three to play to advance Auburn to the championship match, the 22nd-ranked Tigers swept all five matches against No. 3 Texas A&M to win the East Lake Cup title at the venerable course in Atlanta that Bobby Jones called home.
All of the matches were routs.
Freshman Rachel Gourley put the first point on the board for Auburn after she defeated Haliee Cooper 6 and 5, as she closed out the match by winning three consecutive holes.
Weidenfeld then gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead with a 3 and 1 win over Zoe Slaughter.
Junior Elina Sinz bounced back from a loss on Tuesday to deliver the deciding point in the match with a par on the 16th hole for a 3 and 2 victory over Jennie Park.
Junior Anna Foster and senior Megan Schofill were both 4 up in their matches against Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and Adela Cernousek, respectively, when Sinz closed out the Aggies to clinch the title.
"This win just proves how hard we've been working all fall," said Sinz, one of three holdovers from last year's lineup that reached the national semifinals at Grayhawk, along with Foster and Schofill. "To close out the fall with a win and show off what we are able to do is great."
Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen was definitely breathing a little easier on Wednesday after watching her team turn in a dominating performance.
"These girls really dug in and really wanted it today," said Luellen. "I can't tell you how proud we all are of our younger players like Casey [Weidenfeld] who led us off today. Elina [Sinz] really played well and our freshman Rachel [Gourley] struggled this week, won big today. For three of our youngest players to win one, two, three was amazing."
Auburn was certainly trending in the right direction coming into East Lake. After a 10th place showing in the 12-team ANNIKA Intercollegiate to start the season, the Tigers finished fifth in a 14-team field at the Mason Rudolph Championships and then place second at the Illini Women's Invitational at Medinah.
"I am really pleased with the improvement we are showing.," Luellen told GOLF Channel. "We showed we can play good golf. I think we can play against anybody."
Auburn Athletic Communications contributed to this report.View results for Women's East Lake Cup
ABOUT THE Women's East Lake Cup
Started in 2015 and hosted by the historic
East
Lake Golf Club Atlanta, this collegiate, two-day
match
play competition features the top-performing
teams
from the previous year's NCAA Women's
Golf Championships.
View Complete Tournament Information