Illinois managed to finish the final two days at 6-over-par to climb over three schools on the leaderboard for a seventh place finish in the 2026 NCAA Stanford Regional.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

May 13, 2026

The Illinois women’s golf program earned its best NCAA regional finish in seven years.

The Illini finished the 2026 NCAA Stanford Regional in seventh place, being led by Eric Lee thriving in the final day of her home postseason event.

Lee, playing in an NCAA regional just 15 miles from her hometown of Arcadia, Calif., fired a 1-under-par 70 to back up her 71 from the previous day. Lee rocketed up another nine places on the individual leaderboard to finish tied for 32nd place in the 77-player field.

After finding themselves tied for 10th place in the 12-team regional with a 17-over-par team score after the first day of competition, Illinois managed to finish the final two days at 6-over-par to climb over three schools. This 2026 performance from Renee Sloan’s squad marks the first time Illinois has finished higher than ninth in a NCAA regional since 2019 - the only time in program history that the Illini finished fifth or higher to advance to the NCAA Championships.

The season would come to a conclusion for the Illini as they posted a 23-over-par 875 and falling 15 shots behind Missouri for the fifth and final transfer spot into the national tournament.

Stanford, the consensus No. 1 team in the country, finished with its most dominant regional in program history on its home course, notching a 42-under-par team and seeing Andrea Revuelta lift the trophy for the individual medalist honors with a three-day total of 12-under 201. Revuelta holed a bunker shot for birdie on her final hole to record a second straight, 6-under 65 to beat her Cardinal teammate Paula Martin Sampedro by two shots.

Illinois senior Anna Ritter rebounded from her 77 on Tuesday to post a 1-over 73 in the final round of her collegiate career.

New Mexico State senior Emma Bunch, a three-time Conference USA Player of the Year selection from Denmark, will make the trip to the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California for the 2026 NCAA Championships. Bunch could not hold her overnight lead for the individual medalist title but was the low individual of a non-qualifying team by posting a three-day total of 6-under 207 and taking the transfer spot by five strokes.

Stanford’s performance this week set NCAA regional records for 54-hole total (810) along with margin of victory (38 shots) and four different Stanford players finishing in the individual top five of the entire field.

The only other team to finish with an under-par, three-day total was Pepperdine (4-under, 848) as the mid-major program is headed to NCAA Championships for the third time in the last four years. Oregon State became the highest seed to advance to nationals this year, as the ninth-seeded Beavers also punched their NCAA Championship ticket for the third time in four years. Missouri shot over Southeastern Conference rival Vanderbilt for the final transfer spot to nationals by posting a 2-over total over the last two days of competition. The Tigers snapped the longest drought among 2026 NCAA Championship qualifiers as they’ll be heading to nationals for the first time since 2005, which was the program’s only previous appearance.

The Big Ten Conference will be well represented with four teams in California next week at the 2026 NCAA Championships as Southern California (the 2026 NCAA Columbus Regional champion), Ohio State, Northwestern and Michigan State advanced out of their respective regionals. MSU, with Virginia, survived a 3-for-2 playoff in its regional in Chapel Hill, N.C, knocking out North Carolina State.

2026 NCAA Stanford Regional Championship Team Leaderboard

Stanford - 275-267-268--810 (-42)

Pepperdine - 283-278-287--848 (-4)

Oregon State - 279-285-290--854 (+2)

Arizona State - 290-282-284--856 (+4)

Missouri - 290-284-286--860 (+8)

-----------TOP FIVE AFTER THREE ROUNDS ADVANCE TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS--------

Vanderbilt - 286-285-297--868 (+16)

ILLINOIS - 301-283-291--875 (+23)

Arizona - 287-298-299--884 (+32)

California Polytechnic State - 296-296-293--885 (+33)

California State at Fullerton - 293-291-313--897 (+45)

South Dakota State - 301-305-308--914 (+62)

Navy - 310-296-311--917 (+65)

ILLINOIS PLAYERS

Erica Lee - 78-71-70--219 (+6)

Anna Ritter - 71-77-73--221 (+8)

Victoria Zheng - 78-71-73--222 (+9)

Alexis Myers - 75-72-75--222 (+9)

Brielle Mapanao - 77-69-79--225 (+12)