Lobo Women Battle Top-5 Foes Stanford and Texas at NB3 Match Play
SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M. – The New Mexico women’s golf team began play Tuesday at the inaugural NB3 Match Play, a four-school made-for-TV event airing on the Golf Channel. The Lobos played a pair of top-five teams on the opening day, falling to No. 1 and reigning NCAA Champion Stanford in the morning 3.5-1.5 before dropping a 5-0 match to No. 4 Texas in the afternoon.
After two of the three matches of the round robin format, Texas leads the women’s standings with 9.5 points. Stanford is second with 7.5 points, while the Lobos and New Mexico State are tied for third with 1.5 points each. In Wednesday’s final matches, New Mexico will play New Mexico State and Texas will play Stanford.
In the morning match, the Lobos fell to top-ranked Stanford 3.5-1.5. Maria Caparros Levin recorded a big victory for UNM, defeating 2024 first-team All-American Megha Ganne 3&1. After taking the lead on the second hole, Caparros Levin led the remainder of the match to earn the victory. Maria Garcia earned half a point for the Lobos by splitting her match with 2024 second-team All-American Kelly Xu. Garcia never led, but rallied from down two holes on the back nine, and used a birdie on the next to last hole to earn the tie.
In the afternoon, Texas swept all five matches from the Lobos. Garcia and Rebecca Galasso both pushed their opponent to the full 18 holes to highlight the second match for New Mexico.
“The girls battled so hard and it was so fun to watch,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “Maria Caparros Levin took down an All-American this morning and Maria Garcia got a tie against an All-American in her match. They all fought on every hole and cheered on one another. This has been a great experience so far, and we will learn from this and it will make us better.”
The final matches on the NB3 Match Play will begin at 11 a.m. at Twin Warriors Golf Club, with New Mexico playing New Mexico State on both the men’s and women’s side. The Golf Channel coverage will air live from 2:30-5:30 p.m. MT.