The top-ranked Arizona State women’s golf team rallied from  a slow start to post 3-over-par 291s in the final two rounds to capture the Division I team title May 22 at Caves Valley Golf Course in Owings Mills, Maryland.

“It’s almost relief,” coach Melissa Luellen said after her team finished six and 10 strokes ahead of Pacific-10 rivals UCLA and Southern California. “We started tough after the first two days, but the resolve and the determination and the talent of these players just came through. I really feel like the best team won.”

That “best team” included three players who finished among the top 15 in the field – senior Azahara Munoz, the 2008 medalist who carded an even-par 72 in the final round to tie for fourth, and freshman Carlota Ciganda and sophomore Jaclyn Sweeney, who tied for 11th place at 9-over par 297. Senior Jennifer Osborn tied for 21st and junior Juliana Murcia tied for 32nd.

“This was a true team effort,” Luellen said. “Aza Munoz wanted to defend her title but started out with a 78. But the way she played these last three days was the mark of a champion.”

The title was Arizona State’s seventh overall and first since 1998. The Sun Devils, the No. 1 team in the Golfweek rankings, were tied for fifth after shooting an opening-round 302 but drew to a tie for fourth after Round 2 and second after Round 3, one stroke behind Southern California.

The Trojans struggled with a final-round 301. Oklahoma State entered the last round in seventh but posted a tournament-low 290 to finish fourth place. Denver rounded out the top five.

Medalist honors went to Purdue senior Maria Hernandez, who fired a 1-under-par 71 and finished with a four-day total of 1-over 289 to top the field of 126 golfers. Hernandez  missed a birdie opportunity on her last hole and was one stroke behind as the final group hit the 18th green, but Southern California freshman Jennifer Song double-bogeyed the hole.

“I don’t think I believe it right now,” Hernandez said afterward. “It was just kind of surprising really. I knew today that I had to go all out. I had a really rough start, but I’ve been playing good golf the entire week.

“When they told me that I was one shot behind after finishing on 18, I was crushed. Being one shot behind, I saw Song go in the bunker and it plugged. I never thought she would make double-bogey. My putting felt good, but I didn’t make the putts I wanted this week. I was hitting it pretty good; I just had three or four bad holes, which is why I didn’t have a lower score in this tournament. It was good enough, though.”

Team results

1. Arizona St., 302-298-291-291 -- 1,182; 2. UCLA, 296-293-304-297 -- 1,190; 3. Southern California, 301-295-294-301 -- 1,191; 4. Oklahoma St., 303-297-309-290 -- 1,199; 5. Denver, 294-304-309-299 -- 1,206; 6. Duke, 308-301-302-296 -- 1,207; 7. North Carolina, 299-301-306-304 -- 1,210; 8. Virginia, 305-302-301-304 -- 1,212; 9. Pepperdine, 312-298-302-301 -- 1,213; 10. Purdue, 306-301-311-298 -- 1,216; 11. Alabama, 305-302-311-299 -- 1,217; 12. LSU, 302-304-309-304 -- 1,219; 13. (tie). Michigan St., 307-303-315-300 -- 1,225; and Wake Forest, 303-300-318-304 -- 1,225; 15. Georgia, 316-307-301-310 -- 1,234; 16. Arizona, 310-305-314-306 -- 1,235; 17. Tennessee, 307-313-306-311 -- 1,237; 18. TCU, 314-316-301-307 -- 1,238; 19. New Mexico, 311-314-307-310 -- 1,242; 20. Tulane, 312-305-317-312 -- 1,246; 21. Chattanooga, 316-307-305-320 -- 1,248; 22. UC Irvine, 320-316-312-301 -- 1,249; 23. Texas, 314-311-313-314 -- 1,252; 24. Ohio St., 323-311-314-310 -- 1,258.

Individual results

1. Maria Hernandez, Purdue, 74-72-72-71 -- 289; 2. Jennifer Song, Southern California, 72-73-71-74 -- 290; 3. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma St., 74-72-76-69 -- 291; 4. (tie) Amanda Blumenherst, Duke, 75-73-74-71 -- 293; and Azahara Munoz, Arizona St., 78-71-72-72 -- 293; 6. (tie) Nannette Hill, Wake Forest, 72-71-79-72 -- 294; and Calle Nielson, Virginia, 75-76-71-72 -- 294; 8. (tie) Alice Kim, UC Davis, 74-75-70-76 -- 295; and Maria Jose Uribe, UCLA, 75-66-77-77 -- 295; 10. Lisa McCloskey, Pepperdine, 74-69-78-75 -- 296; 11. (tie) Carlota Ciganda, Arizona St., 74-76-75-72 -- 297; Stephanie Connelly, UCF, 72-74-75-76 -- 297; Cindy LaCrosse, Louisville, 76-76-75-70 -- 297; Stephanie Sherlock, Denver, 70-73-79-75 -- 297; and Jaclyn Sweeney, Arizona St., 76-77-69-75 -- 297; 16. (tie) Ginny Brown, Tennessee, 72-75-77-74 -- 298; Jane Chin, UC Irvine, 75-75-75-73 -- 298; Stephanie Kono, UCLA, 73-76-74-75 -- 298; Lizette Salas, Southern California, 74-74-75-75 -- 298; and Allie White, North Carolina 78-76-73-71 -- 298; 21. (tie) Sydney Crane, North Carolina, 75-72-75-77 -- 299; Belen Mozo, Southern California, 78-72-73-76 -- 299; Jennifer Osborn, Arizona St., 75-74-75-75 -- 299; and Dawn Shockley, Denver, 77-70-77-75 -- 299; 25. (tie) Kathleen Ekey, Alabama, 75-78-72-75 -- 300; Tiffany Joh, UCLA, 74-76-76-74 -- 300; Jennie Lee, Duke, 78-75-75-72 -- 300; Caroline Martens, LSU, 78-74-74-74 -- 300; and Marta Silva, Georgia, 75-72-76-77 -- 300; 30. (tie) Caroline Masson, Oklahoma St., 77-73-78-73 -- 301; and Rachel Raastad, TCU, 77-74-72-78 -- 301; 32. (tie) Britney Choy, New Mexico, 73-79-72-78 -- 302; Megan McChrystal, LSU, 74-77-77-74 -- 302; Juliana Murcia, Arizona St., 77-77-76-72 -- 302; Brooke Pancake, Alabama, 75-78-81-68 -- 302; and Glory Yang, UCLA, 74-78-77-73 -- 302; 37. (tie) Marina Alex, Vanderbilt, 79-81-74-69 -- 303; and Caroline Hedwall, Oklahoma St., 76-78-76-73 -- 303; 39. (tie) Emma de Groot, Chattanooga, 79-73-76-76 -- 304; Jodi Ewart, New Mexico, 78-73-78-75 -- 304; Janine Fellows, Tulane, 76-75-77-76 -- 304; Katie Kempter, Denver, 74-81-75-74 -- 304; Camilla Lennarth, Alabama, 78-72-78-76 -- 304; Sydnee Michaels, UCLA, 75-75-79-75 -- 304; Lindsey Solberg, Michigan St., 73-79-76-76 -- 304; Jessica Wallace, Pepperdine, 79-77-76-72 -- 304; and Alison Whitaker, Duke, 76-75-78-75 -- 304; 48. (tie) Mallory Hetzel, Georgia, 77-76-80-72 -- 305; Lene Krog, Virginia, 78-74-73-80 -- 305; Laura Kueny, Michigan St., 74-76-80-75 -- 305; and Nathalie Mansson, Tennessee, 81-77-71-76 -- 305; 52. (tie) Kendall Dye, Oklahoma, 82-73-76-75 -- 306; and Catherine O'Donnell, North Carolina, 70-77-82-77 -- 306; 54. (tie) Junthima Gulyanamitta, Purdue, 80-76-78-73 -- 307; Whitney Neuhauser, Virginia, 75-76-81-75 -- 307; and Amanda Wilson, Arizona, 76-77-78-76 -- 307; 57. (tie) Jayvie Agojo, Pepperdine, 80-78-72-78 -- 308; Emma Jandel, Ohio St., 75-78-82-73 -- 308; Taylore Karle, Pepperdine, 79-74-79-76 -- 308; Caroline Kim, Southern California, 77-76-79-76 -- 308; and Karin Kinnerud, Oklahoma St., 78-74-81-75 -- 308; Vicky Villanueva, Ohio St., 78-75-73-82 -- 308; 63. (tie) Isabelle Boineau, Arizona, 77-78-78-76 -- 309; Ellie Givens, Denver, 73-80-80-76 -- 309; and Thea Hoffmeister, Purdue, 76-76-78-79 -- 309; 66. (tie) Valentine Derrey, TCU, 78-83-76-73 -- 310; Kimberly Donovan, Duke, 79-78-75-78 -- 310; Kelley Louth, Texas, 81-77-74-78 -- 310; and Maria Salinas, Chattanooga, 75-77-75-83 -- 310; 70. (tie) Michelle Bowles, Michigan St., 80-75-81-75 -- 311; Patty Chawalitmetha, UC Irvine, 78-80-76-77 -- 311; Kristen Simpson, Virginia, 77-76-78-80 -- 311; Nicole Vandermade, Texas 80-76-79-76 -- 311; and Cheyenne Woods, Wake Forest, 78-76-79-78 -- 311; 75. (tie) Carolina Andrade, Georgia, 82-79-71-80 -- 312; Jaqueline Hedwall, LSU, 74-80-83-75 -- 312; Rebecca Hellbom, New Mexico, 79-80-77-76 -- 312; Joy Kim, Virginia, 79-77-79-77 -- 312; Nikki Koller, Arizona, 79-73-82-78 -- 312; Inah Park, Southern California, 79-79-75-79 -- 312; and Kate Thomas, North Carolina, 76-77-80-79 -- 312; 82. (tie) Jean Chua, Wake Forest, 81-78-77-77 -- 313; Courtney Harter, Alabama, 77-74-82-80 --313; Amanda Johnson, Oklahoma St., 76-78-79-80 -- 313; and Maude-Aimee LeBlanc, Purdue, 76-77-83-77 -- 313; 86. (tie) Kaitlin Drolson, Pepperdine, 80-80-76-78 -- 314; Sarah Faller, Denver, 78-83-78-75 -- 314; Ashley McKenney, Tulane, 78-76-83-77 -- 314; and Tessa Teachman, LSU, 78-73-79-84 -- 314; 90. (tie) Moa Duf, Chattanooga, 79-79-76-81 -- 315; Allyson Ferguson, TCU, 80-81-77-77 -- 315; Daniela Holmqvist, Tulane, 77-76-82-80 -- 315; Alejandra Llaneza, Arizona, 83-79-76-77 -- 315; Margarita Ramos, Arizona, 78-77-83-77 -- 315; and Natalie Sheary, Wake Forest, 80-75-83-77 -- 315; 96. (tie) Brooke Beeler, TCU, 79-79-79-79 -- 316; Cathryn Bristow, Oregon, 78-79-79-80 -- 316; Shannon Fish, Texas, 74-79-82-81 -- 316; Aimee Neff, Michigan St., 80-73-85-78 -- 316; Nicole Smith, Tennessee, 76-80-77-83 -- 316; and Amalie Valle, LSU, 76-80-79-81 -- 316; 102. (tie) Diana Cantu, Tennessee, 78-81-81-78 -- 318; and Shannon Warner, Michigan St., 83-83-78-74 -- 318; 104. (tie) Linn Gustafsson, Tulane, 81-82-76-80 -- 319; Lauren Hunt, North Carolina, 81-76-78-84 -- 319; and Kristin Walla, Texas, 82-79-78-80 -- 319; 107. (tie) Prisela Campbell, TCU, 83-82-76-79 -- 320; and Lalita Patipaksiri, UC Irvine, 80-82-80-78 -- 320; 109. Gemma Webster, Ohio St., 87-87-77-71 -- 322; 110. Samantha Troyanovich, Tulane, 84-78-82-79 -- 323; 111. (tie) Allie Bodemann, Wake Forest, 73-82-86-83 -- 324; and Yu Young Lee, Duke, 83-81-82-78 -- 324; 113. (tie) Mikaela Backstedt, New Mexico, 81-82-81-81 -- 325; and Joy Trotter, UC Irvine, 87-79-85-74 -- 325; 115. (tie) Rhea Nair, Alabama, 80-81-80-86 -- 327; Hillary Packard, UC Irvine, 87-82-81-77 -- 327; and Christine Wolf, Chattanooga, 85-78-78-86 -- 327; 118. Tess Fordham, Georgia, 82-88-74-85 -- 329; 119. Morgan Grantham, New Mexico, 82-83-80-86 -- 331; 120. (tie) Caney Hines, Texas, 79-86-88-80 -- 333; Maria Juliana Loza, Chattanooga, 83-82-88-80 -- 333; and Vaishavi Sinha, Purdue, 88-83-85-77 -- 333; 123. Leigh Crosby, Georgia, 87-80-87-81 -- 335; 124. Lauren Spurlock, Tennessee, 84-83-85-84 -- 336; 125. Jessica Hauser, Ohio St., 93-81-82-84 -- 340; In Hong Lim, Ohio St., 83-77 (did not finish).