HENDERSON, Nev. – BYU women’s golf holds the first-round lead at the West Coast Conference Championship with a 5-over-par round of 293 at Reflection Bay Golf Course on Thursday.

“I loved our effort today,” said BYU head coach Carrie Roberts. “The girls were confident and solid. They looked in control.”

BYU junior Allysha Mae Mateo carded six birdies in the opening round on her way to a 2-under 70 and the individual lead heading into Friday’s second round. Caroline Hwang of Pepperdine is one shot behind Mateo after a 1-over 71, while Quynn Duong of Pepperdine is in third at even-par 72.

Cougar junior Annick Haczkiewicz carded her best round of the season on Thursday. The Las Vegas native overcame a double bogey hiccup on the 11th hole by closing with two birdies and five pars to finish at 73. Haczkiewicz enters the second round tied for fourth with Cassie Kim of Gonzaga.  

“Annick has been working really hard all season to get to this point,” said Roberts. “She’s one of the toughest competitors I know.”

Kerstin Fotu and Naomi Soifua both carded scores of 3-over 75 and are tied for seventh while Lila Galeai posted a 4-over 76, tying her for 10th.

Gonzaga finished day one in second place with a 9-over 297. Pepperdine is in third at 299, followed by San Francisco in fourth at 309 and Santa Clara in fifth at 316.

The Cougars tee-off in the second round of the 54-hole tournament at Reflection Bay beginning at 7:50 a.m. PDT on Friday. Follow the action with live updates from Golfstat.

WCC Championships | Round One Results | Team

 WCC Championships | Round One Results | Top-5 Individuals

HENDERSON, Nev. – BYU women’s golf will compete for its fourth West Coast Conference title in the past five seasons at the 2021 WCC Championships at Reflection Bay Golf Course on April 22-24.

Allysha Mae Mateo, Kerstin Fotu, Lila Galeai, Annick Hackiewicz and Naomi Soifua will tee-off for the Cougars in Henderson. Mateo and Soifua both began the spring featured on the WCC preseason all-conference team.

Mateo (No. 98) is the highest ranked WCC golfer in Golfstat’s latest Division 1 women’s golf players poll. The junior from Honolulu, Hawaii has led BYU in scoring and finished in the top-15 in eight of nine tournaments this season.

Fotu and Galeai are each coming off career-best, three-round scores and top-15 finishes at the Lone Star Invitational in Humble, Texas on April 12-13.

As a team, BYU has finished four straight tournaments in the top-5 and had a season-best three top-15 finishers at the Lone Star Invitational.

The WCC Championship field is comprised of each of the conference’s five women’s golf programs—BYU, Gonzaga, Pepperdine, San Francisco and Santa Clara.

Pepperdine comes in at No. 51 in Golfstat’s latest Division 1 women’s golf team rankings. The Waves were picked to win the WCC in the preseason coaches poll and had the most players in the conference listed on the preseason all-conference team.

No. 64 Gonzaga finished in the top-5 in all five of its tournaments this season and are led by WCC March golfer of the month Quynn Duong.

San Francisco features preseason all-WCC golfers Annika Borelli and Pearl Rojanapeansatith, while Santa Clara’s Sarah Busey was also featured on all-conference team.

BYU has experienced mixed results competing against conference opponents this spring. The Cougars finished behind Gonzaga at the Rebel Beach Intercollegiate in Las Vegas on Feb. 15-15.

BYU then finished 18 shots ahead of Santa Clara at The Gold Rush in Seal Beach, California on Feb. 22-23. Weeks later, BYU would finish 25 shots ahead of San Francisco and 26 shots ahead of Pepperdine at the Juli Inkster at Meadow Club Invitational in Fairfax, California.

The Cougars have won the WCC Championship in three of the last four seasons, including three consecutive titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. In BYU’s most recent WCC title victory, the Cougars finished first after outdueling Pepperdine in a one-hole team playoff in 2018.

BYU golfers have twice claimed the WCC individual title with Alexandra White doing so in 2017 and Rose Huang in 2018.

BYU at the WCC Championships — Year-by-year results