Houston women’s golf clinches historic first team trip to NCAA Championship

For the first time in its young 13-season program history, Houston women’s golf clinched a team trip to the NCAA Championships thanks to its second-place finish in the Simpsonville Regional at University of Louisville Golf Club in Kentucky on Wednesday. 

The historic feat, in coach Lydia Lasprilla’s fifth season at the helm, comes as part of Houston’s 11-under 853 total score as the No. 5-seed in the 12-team field, making the five-team cut and finishing six shots behind regional champion No. 7-seed Auburn after ending the first two days atop the program leaderboards. 

Among three Cougars with sub-par finishes over the three-day event, senior Natalie Saint Germain, fresh off earning an All-Big 12 Second Team selection, led the team with a 7-under 209 finish, leaving her tied for fourth individually with Kansas State sophomore Nanami Nakashima. 

After opening the first round at 1-under with a bogey on hole No. 2, Saint Germain took to a torrid stretch with a bogey-free, six-birdie second round, which included five birdies on her first six holes, ballooning her score to 6-under. 

Once junior Maelynn Kim finished at 5-under with a six-birdie round of her own, she and Saint Germain finished the second round tied at second and 7-under overall individually, Houston found itself at a staggering 19-under team mark with a two-shot lead over Auburn. 

Saint Germain’s even-par 72 score in the final round proved to be the saving grace for Houston, as she was the only Cougar that day without an over finish. 

Despite the scare from a total of 16 team bogies in the final round, the Cougars staved off missing the cut by finishing one shot over Arkansas at third and two shots ahead of Big 12 champion Iowa State and Ole Miss.

Rounding out the Cougars’ individual under finishes, Kim and senior Alexa Saldana finished tied for 13th at 2-under 214 in their fourth and third consecutive postseason events, respectively. 

Now, after Houston was represented individually four times previously in the NCAA Championships, with senior Moa Svedenskiöld as the most recent qualifier from 2025, the Cougars will make the trek as a team to the five-day event at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. beginning May 22.