Mateo earns second career win, Cougars finish fifth in Miami

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Allysha Mae Mateo shot 3-under-par in the final round of the Hurricane Invitational to earn the second win of her collegiate career as the Cougars finished fifth.

Mateo opened with a 1-over-par, 73 that put her in a tie for 34th after 18 holes but rebounded in the afternoon of day one. The senior fired a career best 5-under 67 in the second round to jump into a tie for fourth with 18 holes to play.

“I knew 67 was the lowest score of my career and I left the putt on 18 short to shoot 66, so I was a little sad about that,” said Mateo. “I struggled off the tee in Kansas, but was able to work a few things out leading up to this event. I positioned myself well off the tee, gave myself looks for birdie and was able to roll in some long putts which is always fun.”

Beginning the final round two shots off the 36-hole lead, Mateo recorded a second-straight round in the 60s to finish at 7-under for the championship and earn her second career victory. The Honolulu, Hawai’i native carded four birdies and a lone bogey on her way to 3-under 69 that gave her a one-shot victory over the No. 27 ranked Mackenzie Lee of SMU and No. 85th ranked Nataliya Guseva of Miami who finished at 6-under-par.

“I’m super proud of Allysha and the way she turned it around this tournament,” said BYU assistant coach Lea Garner. “Allysha’s putting was amazing this week. She was able to make a lot of long putts, both for birdie and par, to give herself a chance down the stretch. She minimized her mistakes and made some clutch birdies to close out the win.”

Lila Galeai continued her strong play as she earned her third-straight top-25 and first top-10 finish of the season in Miami. The junior finished in a tie for 8th after firing rounds of 69-72-72—213 to finish at 3-under for the championship.

“Lila has been learning and improving week after week,” said Garner. “She is getting more comfortable going low, being near the top of leaderboards and is gaining confidence along the way.”

Kerstin Fotu earned her second top-25 of the season as she finished in a tie for 24th. The senior birdied her 54th hole to finish at 1-over-par for the tournament with rounds of 72-72-73—217.

Fifth year senior Annick Haczkiewicz earned her highest finish of the young season as she took tied for 37th. The Las Vegas product shot 72-72-76—220 for a 4-over total to help BYU to a fifth-place finish.

Adeline Anderson rounded out the scoring for the Cougar team with rounds of 73-78-77—228. Berlin Long, who competed as an individual, finished 51st with scores of 73-74-78—224.

No. 15 SMU (290-281-277—848) fired 11-under par on the final day to finish at 16-under for the tournament and come from seven shots behind to take the team title over No. 44 Miami (283-290-279—852) who shot 12-under for the championship.

South Florida (286-286-281—853) took third after an 11-under-par, 54-hole total that bested fourth place UNLV (278-286-293—857 by four. BYU (286-283-290—859) finished fifth matching their best team finish of the season after shooting 5-under for the tournament.

“I’m happy we were able to have a solid finish to close out the fall season,” said Garner. “We have work to do to reach our goals, but we know what improvements we need to make during the break. Now it’s time to get back to work so we can be ready to get the ball rolling in February.”

With the conclusion of the fall slate, the Cougars now have nearly four months off to fine tune their game before they next tee it up at the FAU Paradise Invitational in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, Feb. 6-7.

Individual Leaderboard

Team Leaderboard (Top 5)

*12-Team Field