FAYETTEVILLE -- Duke sophomore Miranda Wang thought she had a match-deciding putt in the hole on No. 18 in the NCAA Women's Golf Championships on Wednesday at Blessings Golf Club.
But Wang had to halt her celebration as the 5-footer powered over the cup and past the back lip.
Wang got another chance to finish off Wake Forest freshman Letizia Bagnoli two holes later with the championship on the line, and this time she capitalized.
Wang was conceded a par putt on No. 15, the group's second playoff hole, after Bagnoli got in trouble with her second shot and had to take a drop.
Wang's steady chip from off the green and her winning lag putt led the No. 3 Blue Devils to their seventh NCAA championship by a 3-2 count over No. 6 Wake Forest in an all-Atlantic Coast Conference final.
"We all know this course needs a lot of patience," Wang told the Golf Channel. "We've been through a lot in these few days. We know if you stay patient, things can turn around really quick."
Duke broke the Pac-12's four-year grip on the title, which had lasted every year since the women's championship switched to match play in 2015.
The Blue Devils trailed in four of the pairings for much of the front nine, but reversed the momentum midway through the match and notched two points in extra holes.
"I was with Miranda ... almost the whole day, she was down two, and here she is doing this," Duke Coach Dan Brooks told the Golf Channel. "The whole team is that way. We have a really gritty team this year. It's fantastic."
Perhaps the most impressive of the extra-hole wins came from sophomore Jaravee Boonchant, who trailed Wake Forest senior Jennifer Kupcho -- the world's No. 1 amateur -- by one through 14 holes. Boonchantt birdied 15 to square the match, then took her first match-play lead of the tournament against Kupcho with a birdie on No. 17.
Kupcho, the 2018 NCAA individual champion, got back to all square by winning 18 with a par. Boonchant's par on No. 1, the first extra hole, provided Duke its second point.
The first point of the match came from the final pairing, as Duke junior Ana Belac notched a 5-and-3 victory over Vanessa Knecht after 15 holes. Belac went 3-0 in match play for the Blue Devils.
The other matches held much greater drama.
Wake Forest's Emilia Migliaccio cozied her approach on 18 in an all-square match to about 1 foot away while Gina Kim went into a green-side bunker. When Kim's sand wedge shot rolled well past the hole, she conceded the putt and her match to Migliaccio, who went 3-0 in match play.
The Demon Deacons' other point came in extra holes, as junior Siyun Liu took out Virginia Elena Carta, the 2016 NCAA individual champion, in 20 holes in the first pairing and fourth match to be decided. Liu went 2-0-1 in match play.
Boonchant had been 0-3 in match play in her career before taking down Kupcho, who won the inaugural Augusta National Women's Amateur last month.
"I was just hanging in there," Boonchant told the Golf Channel. "I'd say No. 15, the first birdie I made, really brought me back into rhythm. No. 17 was really big, too. It gave me confidence."
Wang was also winless at the championships before taking the deciding match. Wang said she was thinking about her teammates as Bagnoli struggled to get on the 15 green.
"I was not thinking about just to win this hole, I was thinking I'm very grateful that I'm on this team," Wang said. "I didn't do well in my first two matches, but my teammates got me through a lot. I was like, 'I'm going to do this for my team.' "
To reach the championship match, Wake Forest won in a rout over Auburn while Duke needed all 18 holes of the deciding match to knock out defending NCAA champion Arizona.
The Blue Devils got a leadoff victory from Carta by 2 and 1 over Sandra Nordaas, as well as wins in the fourth and fifth positions by Belac and Kim.
Arizona's Haley Moore downed Boonchant 4 and 3 in the second pairing. The Wildcats' Yu-Sang Hou had a four-hole lead evaporate to one heading into No. 17 before she holed out from the bunker to down Wang 2 and 1.
After Belac took out Ya Chun Chang 2 and 1, it left the winning point in the hands of Kim and Arizona senior Bianca Pagdanganan, who placed third behind Arkansas' Maria Fassi and Florida's Sierra Brooks with a 2 under in the stroke-play portion of the championship.
The pair played a tight match throughout the 6,397-yard layout. Pagdanganan led by one after five holes on the front nine, and the match was tied on seven occasions through the first 12. Kim took her first lead with a par on the 13th, but Pagdanganan forged a tie again with a birdie on the par-5 15th. Kim's birdie on 16 gave her the edge again.
After halving the par-3 17th, Kim dropped her approach on 18 within 2 feet from the fairway bunker.
"What a great shot, especially from the bunker," Arizona Coach Laura Ianello said. "There's nothing you can do about that."
Pagdanganan also stuck her approach about 5 feet from the pin and made her birdie putt, but Kim drained her short putt to send her teammates cheering onto the finishing hole.
Wake Forest made short work of No. 13 Auburn, the No. 8 seed who ousted top seed Texas in a major comeback late Tuesday.
The Demon Deacons bolted to substantial leads by three of their players and closed out the Tigers 4-0-1 in a match where only two of the pairings made it to 18 holes.
Kupcho smoked Kaleigh Telfer 6 and 4 in the leadoff position, while Migliaccio routed Brooke Sansom in the third pairing to give the Demon Deacons two early points. Sansom's birdie putt on No. 2 in extra holes had given the Tigers their winning point in a 3-2 victory over the Longhorns late Tuesday.
Bagnoli downed Elena Hualde 1 up and Knecht subdued Mychael O'Berry 3 and 2 in the fifth pairing. Liu, who scored the key point for Wake Forest in its 3-2 victory over Arkansas in the quarterfinals, was tied with Auburn's Julie McCarthy through 18 holes when the match was won.
Championship match
DUKE 3, WAKE FOREST 2
Siyun Liu, Wake Forest, def.
Virginia Elena Carta, Duke, 20 holes
Jaravee Boonchant, Duke, def.
Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest, 19 holes
Miranda Wang, Duke, def.
Letizia Bagnoli, Wake Forest, 20 holes
Emilia Migliaccio, Wake Forest,
def. Gina Kim, Duke, 1 up
Ana Belac, Duke, def.
Vanessa Knecht, Wake Forest, 5 and 3
Sports on 05/23/2019