Less than a week removed from winning the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, Kim Lewellen's team bounced right back to shoot 21-under 831 to post a three-shot victory over Central Florida. Virginia finished five back in third place.
Similar to its win in Lake Elmo, Minn., the Demon Deacons had to come from behind to earn the team title. After opening with a 286, Wake shot itself back into contention with a strong 11-under 273 in round two, but still trailed Virginia by six shots entering the final round.
Behind sub-par rounds by Emilia Migliaccio (67) Rachel Kuehn (68), Mimi Rhodes (68) and Carolina Chacarra (69), the Deacs used a final round 272 (-12) to propel themselves past the Cavaliers and UCF en route to the team title.
At 10-under, the Kuehn finished tied for second with Tennessee's Bailey Davis in the individual standings behind medalist Tunrada Piddon of Central Florida while Chacarra finished one stroke behind Kuehn, with a nine-under score of 204 on rounds of 68-67-69.
Birdies from Kuehn, Chacarra and Migliaccio, one from each on each of their final three holes, sealed the win for the Deacs as they were tied with UCF at -18 prior to those three shots. Migliaccio shot a team-low 67 in the final round, going bogey-free and tallying four birdies.
"This week showed us really how deep our lineup is," said Lewellen. "We don't have to rely on any one player to go low, any of our five or six girls can go low any given day and that helps us a lot. There are still things we need to work on, but the team played tough and never took their foot off the gas."
Piddon, a senior from Thailand, carded rounds of 68-64-70 to claim medalist honors at 11-under 202, which was the best score in UCF's program history.👑 𝓒𝓗𝓐𝓜𝓟𝓘𝓞𝓝 👑
— UCF Women's Golf (@UCF_WGolf) September 20, 2022
Pat finishes 1⃣1⃣ under at the Mercedes-Benz Invitational to claim the individual title!
Her three-round, 11-under-par is the best in program history🤩#ChargeOn pic.twitter.com/SFit8jI3x4
"It was only a matter of time for Pat to break through and win," UCF head coach Emily Marron added. "Pat always shows up and plays hard to win. I'm so happy for her to get this title in a really solid field."
