Houston women’s golf concludes historic season, finishes 20th in NCAA Championships

After three days of competition at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., Houston women’s golf concluded its 2025-26 campaign with its 20th-place finish in the NCAA Championships Sunday, missing the top-15 cut for the final round of stroke play. 

The end of the road in Houston’s first program trip to the event marked the end of the collegiate careers of seniors Natalie Saint Germain, Alexa Saldana and Moa Svedenskiöld, who led the Cougars individually finishing tied for 36th overall. 

Svedenskiöld’s storybook career under coach Lydia Lasprilla ended on a strong note, bouncing back from a 3-over finish in the second with a 1-under third round finish off four birdies while overcoming three bogeys. 

As a result, Svedenskiöld finished with a team-leading three-day score of 217, leaving her mark on the same ground where she competed as an individual a season prior. 

Junior Maelynn Kim was the only other Cougar with a non-over finish in the third round, in which after ending the second round at 3-over, she answered with three birdies to finish even and tied for 60th at 220 in the event. 

Both efforts helped Houston compile an event-best 289 team total from the third round, adding up to the Cougars’ three-day score of 880. 

Despite finishing with a 73 in the third round, Saint Germain’s best finish came with an even-par 72 score in the second round after shooting a 77 to open the event. In all, she finished tied for 83rd at 222.

To round out the Cougars’ efforts, sophomore Emilia Väistö finished tied for 96th at 223, whereas Saldana tied for 140th at 231. 

Through a series of ups and downs in the event, each individual mark didn’t completely define what built a historical campaign under Lasprilla’s leadership. After all, it was only the Cougars’ first chance to play for a national championship, in which the task typically stands tall for any first-time contender.

With the help of her three departing seniors who built off chemistry and hospitality with each other, Lasprilla created the template of contention for a national championship within the program’s young 13-season history. Now, these efforts will be benchmarked with those larger goals still in mind.