The No. 14 wo尘别苍鈥檚 golf team was selected to compete as the No. 3 seed in the Ann Arbor Regional, clinching its seventh-consecutive appearance at the premiere postseason competition. The seeding marks their highest in program history and is also the best of any Big 12 Conference team in this year鈥檚 competition.

The wo尘别苍鈥檚 golf team is the eighth UCF program to compete at an NCAA postseason regional or championship event in 2025-26, joining cross country, 尘别苍鈥檚 and wo尘别苍鈥檚 soccer, indoor track & field, 尘别苍鈥檚 basketball and 尘别苍鈥檚 and wo尘别苍鈥檚 tennis.

Postseason Outlook

UCF鈥檚 regional includes Southern California as the top seed, followed by Duke, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Northwestern, Kansas, Texas Tech, UNLV, Columbia, Quinnipiac and Oakland.

The three-day event begins Monday, May 11, at University of Michigan Golf Course hosted by Michigan. The Knights are familiar with the course as they were previously selected for the same regional in 2022.

The top five teams to finish at each of the six regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championship, which will be held May 22鈥�27 at the聽Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.

UCF鈥檚 Road to the NCAA Tournament

This will be UCF鈥檚 20th regional appearance and the 11th of the last 15 seasons. Since head coach Emily Marron took over the program ahead of the 2012-13 season, the Knights have either qualified as a team or sent an individual to every NCAA regional.

The Knights have been nationally ranked all season and recently placed among the top three at the Big 12 Championship for their highest finish since joining the conference in 2023-24.

Sophomore Mila Jurine, a communication major from France, was crowned as the first individual Big 12 champion in UCF wo尘别苍鈥檚 golf history. Jurine and senior psychology major Pimpisa Sisutham were named to the Big 12 Tournament Team.

The Knights combined for a team score of 874 (10-over par) and thrived under pressure, shooting 8-under-par on the final nine holes of play May 8 to secure their place among the top six teams in the regional to advance to the finals.

American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year Elizabeth Moon, junior all-conference honoree Maria Balcazar, sophomores Ana Laura Collado and Chinatsu Kobayashi and freshman Alyssa Lamoureux represented UCF at the tournament.

Collado tied for the second-best individual score over the three-day regional competition (206, 10-under par) among a field of 96 golfers.聽Balcazar birdied the 18th聽hole on the final day to boost the team above the cut.

“The grit our team showed on that back 9 today was unbelievable. We kept telling them all week to believe, just believe,” UCF head coach Emily Marron says. “Ana Laura really was amazing and so steady for us. Her 66 in the first round put us in great position. It was a total team effort in the end, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team.”

“We kept telling them all week to believe, just believe.” 鈥� UCF head coach Emily Marron

UCF was tabbed as a 13-seed in its at-large bid to the postseason after finishing second at the American Athletic Conference Championship. This year marks the program鈥檚 14^th聽postseason appearance and the fifth during Marron鈥檚 seven-year tenure.

Rounding out the top six at the聽Cle Elum Regional were Southern Cal (844, 20-under); Washington (859, 5-under); Northwestern (864, par); Arkansas (869, 5-over); and San Jose State (872, 8-over). UCF finished ahead of Power 5 teams such as Ohio State, Oregon, South Carolina and Miami.

The women’s golf team has advanced to the championship final once before in program history in the 1996 season.

While a handful of Knights have won a national championship, none of the team titles have been achieved in an NCAA sanctioned championship competition.

The 2019 NCAA Wo尘别苍鈥檚 Golf National Championship will be at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas, May 17-22 . The final three days of the championships will be televised live by the Golf Channel.

鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of our team this year and the conference awards are a product of their efforts,鈥� UCF head coach Emily Marron said. 鈥淎shley Holder has been very consistent all year and is very deserving of these honors. It鈥檚 very rare to have a freshman talented enough to sweep both awards and I鈥檓 extremely proud of Ashley鈥檚 play this season.鈥�

Holder played in all 10 events this season and led the Knights with five top-ten finishes and a 72.7 scoring average. She shot par or better nine times this season and carded a season low-round of 67. Her best finish came at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic, where she tied for first place.

鈥淚 am greatly honored to receive these awards,鈥� Holder said. 鈥淭his has been an unforgettable year and I am thankful for the support of my teammates and coaches. I could not be more proud of the hard work and dedication we have all put in.鈥�

Holder, an Orlando native, first caught fire in October when she made a hole-in-one at the Par-3 13th hole at Sahlaee Country Club, during the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Seattle, Wash. Two weeks later she would finish second overall at the Las Vegas Collegiate showdown and be named the American Athletic Conference Golfer of the Month.

Her success continued into the second half of the season when she shot her three-day best 213 (-3) helping the Knights win the UCF Challenge. She went on to lead UCF at the conference championship finishing third overall.

UCF鈥檚 honors continued with senior Katilyn Price, junior Fanny Cnops, and freshman Kristine Odaiyar being named to the All-Conference team.

Price was solid all season playing in nine of the ten events for Knights. She maintained a 74.9 scoring average throughout the season and finished fifth overall at the Florida Shootout, helping the Knights to team victory.

Cnops took individual medalist honors at the UCF Challenge and has been the Knights top finisher five times this season. She was awarded conference golfer of the week honors in late February and was granted an exemption to play in the 2014 IOA golf Classic in March where she finished tied for 44th in a field of 142 professionals.

Odaiyar鈥檚 best showing this season came at the Central District Invitational where she finished tied for third with teammate Cnops. She competed in seven events for the Knights this season posting a single-round low of 68 and a 74.4 scoring average.

The No. 17 Knights have turned in top-three finishes at eight of their ten events this season including back-to-back wins at the Florida Shootout and the UCF Challenge. UCF will compete as the No. 6 seed in the NCAA Eastern Regional May 8-10 in Tallahassee, Fla.

Although the Knights held the lead through the first two rounds at the Hammock Beach Resort’s Ocean Course, Louisville’s Emily Haas caught fire Tuesday, matching individual medalist Jenny Haglund’s (SMU) final round best of 71 (-1) and leading the Cardinals to the victory. The Knights and Louisville traded the lead several times throughout the third and final round. But it was a par on the final hole by Haas that clinched the win for the Cardinals.

“Louisville was the better team [today]. We really haven’t played well since LSU (March 21-22) and we have a lot of work to do before we go to the NCAA Championship,” UCF head coach Emily Marron said. “We have a good team, but we know we will have to play a lot better than this to have a chance at NCAAs.”

UCF freshman Ashley Holder led the Knights from wire to wire, finishing in third place overall. Teammate Kristine Odaiyar, also a freshman, had the Knights’ next best finish, tying for seventh. Coach Marron said she was proud of the underclassman’s effort and how they pulled through for the team.

The Knights have now finished second or better in the last seven tournaments and have had a top-three individual finish in six of those events.

The 2014 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship selections will be announced live via the Monday, April 28, during Golf Central which will air that evening from 6 to 7 p.m.

Team Results

1. Louisville 314-302-299= 915 (+51)
2. UCF 307-302-304= 916 (+52)
3. SMU 315-306-307= 928 (+64)

UCF Golfers

“We are excited to have Emily lead our women’s golf program. Emily’s experience as a head coach makes her a great fit for UCF. Her passion for the sport and helping student-athletes was extremely evident during the search process and we look forward to Emily guiding our program to continued success on the course and in the classroom,” Stansbury said.

Marron will inherit a UCF team that advanced to the NCAA Regional for the first time in three years, won two tournament titles and returns each letterwinner from the 2011-12 campaign.

“I am so honored and excited to be the next women’s golf coach at UCF,” Marron said. “The program is on the rise and the university has everything in place to ensure we can remain nationally competitive. The team had a great year last year and I’m looking forward to keeping that momentum going as they all return this fall.

“We will have high goals set for the program right away and an experienced team that can deliver results,” Marron continued. “I would like to personally thank Todd Stansbury for giving me the opportunity to lead the program at UCF and I look forward to being part of the Knight family.”

Under the leadership of Marron, the Spartans finished runner-up in the Southern Conference Tournament in April. She was tabbed coach of the year by the league and coached Fanny Cnops to Southern Conference Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors.

Cnops turned in one of the best seasons by a collegian in 2012 with the guidance of Marron. In 32 rounds played, the Gent, Belgium native’s average score was 72.56, seventh in the nation. She finished fourth in birdies made (106), second in par-5 scoring (4.73) and won two individual titles. Cnops became the second individual under Marron to make an NCAA Regional appearance.

While excelling on the links, the Spartans also performed admirably in the classroom. Most recently, the squad finished the academic year with a 3.46 GPA, tops among all teams at UNCG. In 2009-10, Sofia Aidemark took first-team ESPN The Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District III honors for the second-straight season and became UNCG’s first international student to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Prior to working in Greensboro, Marron spent three seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Penn State. While with the Nittany Lions, she was the recruiting coordinator and helped lead the squad to the 2003 NCAA East Regional Tournament. Marron was also involved in fundraising, travel, practice and the team’s summer golf camps.

A native of Johnstown, Pa., Marron completed her playing time for Penn State in 1998 after joining the team as a walk-on in 1994. An Academic All-Big Ten honoree, she served as the team’s co-captain as a senior. A four-year letterwinner, Marron won the 1997 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship (ECAC) and was a two-time All-ECAC honoree.

Marron graduated from Penn State in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in recreation and park management. Upon graduation, Marron worked for one year as an assistant golf professional at The Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Phil Mickelson’s home course. A Class “A” member of the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division, Marron taught at the Peter Kostis/Gary McCord Learning Center at Grayhawk.