Women’s Golf: Virginia falls to Wake Forest in match play at ACCs

The No. 8 Virginia women’s golf team lost to No. 4 Wake Forest in the semifinal round of match play at the ACC Championships by a 3-1-1 score.

The Demon Deacons will face No. 16 Florida State in Sunday’s finals.

UVA freshman Amanda Sambach picked up the Cavaliers’ lone victory, defeating Lauren Walsh 6&4. Sambach won the first hole of her match and improved that lead to 3-up after the front nine. She only lost one hole during the match, finishing off the win with a victory on the 14th hole.

Senior Riley Smyth rallied after being 2-Down after 14 holes to pick up wins on No. 15 and No. 16 to even her match against Virunpat Olankitkunchai that ended in a tie.

Wake Forest’s Carolina Lopez-Chacarra defeated UVA graduate student Beth Lillie 2&1, Rachel Kuehn beat UVA junior Celeste Valinho 2-Up and Mimi Rhodes downed the Cavaliers’ Jennifer Cleary 5&3 for the winning points for the Demon Deacons.

The championship marks the second consecutive year the ACC has used match play to determine the team champion. UVA has advanced to match play both seasons, losing to Duke in the semifinals in 2021.

The NCAA will announce the field for the 2022 Championships on Wednesday, April 27 at 5 p.m. on Golf Channel.