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Houston senior Alexa Saldana prepares to hit the ball into the twelfth hole of the women\u2019s golf Chevron Collegiate, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025 in Humble, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez\/The Cougar<\/p>\n
The Houston women\u2019s golf team went on its first trip to the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, CA.<\/p>\n
After placing second at the NCAA Simpsonville Regional where they tallied a team score of 11-under 853, the team made school history when they advanced to the nation\u2019s most prestigious collegiate competition for the first time ever. <\/p>\n
The No.29-ranked Cougars finished twentieth in the NCAA championship tournament after three rounds, while senior Moa Svedenski\u00f6ld tied for thirty-sixth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Altogether, the team tallied a team score of 289 and finished with a 54-hole score of 880 while rising four places in the standings. In the end, Svedenski\u00f6ld tied her first-round score, finishing with a 71, tying for No.36 at 217 to lead the team.<\/p>\n
To Lydia Lasprilla, the second Head Coach in women\u2019s golf history, the win to advance to the championship was a special homecoming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was super-special, to be home,\u201d Lasprilla said. \u201cI grew up forty-five minutes from that golf course, so I had a lot of family and friends that I hadn\u2019t seen come out supporting the Cougars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Together, they became a formidable force to be reckoned with this season. When asked what the difference maker was between this season\u2019s team performance and last season\u2019s, Lasprilla credits the leadership of the team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have great leadership,\u201d Lasprilla said. \u201cWe have a veteran team and they\u2019ve been through regionals several times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Lasprilla\u2019s exceptional guidance had united this team of international players. Besides junior Maelynn Kim, everyone else on the roster hails from different parts of the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually very inspiring, because they\u2019re so far away from home,\u201d Kim said. \u201cTo see them all push through the adversity whenever they\u2019re sick or get homesick, it makes me super-grateful and realize to be thankful for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through their time together, they strengthened their bonds as a team. Being away from home, they had learned to rely on each other to get them through the hardest of times. It is this type of camaraderie that brought the team together, helping them to peak at the right moment.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like another family, like we built another Houston family here. We\u2019re all adults, but for the first time we\u2019re across the Atlantic Ocean,\u201d said senior Natalie Saint Germain. \u201cIt\u2019s so nice to have people you can rely on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
They challenged each other to bring out the best in one another. Though they are a team, they remained competitive with one another to sharpen and hone their skills to the fullest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the gym, Natalie is incredibly strong. She pushes everyone. She can lift like double her weight, it\u2019s crazy,\u201d said junior Alexa Saldana. \u201cIn golf, I think the three other girls, especially Moa. She\u2019s always grinding so hard, so she really pushes me to keep up with her and keep practicing,\u201d<\/p>\n
Svedenski\u00f6ld had been fantastic this season, continuing off her junior year when she was the only player on the team to qualify for the NCAA championship after finishing 2-under 214 at the Columbus Regional.<\/p>\n
This year, Svedenski\u00f6ld was humble yet proud to have the rest of the team join her in the championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. Making history- it\u2019s a great feeling. It\u2019s what we all dreamed about, bringing the whole team,\u201d Svedenski\u00f6ld said. \u201cWe achieved the ultimate goal, to make it to nationals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Svedenski\u00f6ld\u2019s veteran work ethic, accomplishments and leadership by example really helped bring out the best in her fellow teammates.<\/p>\n
The team pushed themselves, and together they achieved a monumental ending to a historic season.<\/p>\n
sports@thedailycougar.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston senior Alexa Saldana prepares to hit the ball into the twelfth hole of the women\u2019s golf Chevron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5407,56,58,57,85169,114336],"class_list":["post-318784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-golf","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-uh-athletics","tag-uh-womens-golf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}