For the first time in school history, Wake Forest’s women’s golf team became national champions.
After qualifying by nine strokes above the cutline for the NCAA Championship in May, the Demon Deacons finished third in the stroke play portion to advance to match play.
They defeated Florida State 3½-1½ in the quarterfinals, Texas A&M 4-1 in the semifinals and USC 3-1 in the final.
“It really is an amazing feeling,” graduate Emilia Migliaccio told GoDeacs.com. “You just feel so good because we have such a special community at Wake Forest. There were so many supporters. I have so many messages from people that I don’t know that are just affiliated with Wake Forest.”
It was the 10th title in Wake Forest’s history and the fourth national title by a women’s team, and the accomplishment led to the program being selected as North State Journal’s College Team of the Year for 2023.
“We are absolutely thrilled to bring a trophy back to Wake Forest University and the community there in Winston-Salem,” coach Kim Lewellen said. “What better way to do it than to have Emilia Migliaccio, who came back for her sixth year, to be sitting beside me and sharing that experience with.”
During the season, the Deacons won six team titles and had two individual titles.
In addition to the NCAA Championship, they won the 2022 ANNIKA Intercollegiate, the 2022 Mercedes Benz Intercollegiate, the 2023 UCF Challenge, the 2023 Nexus Collegiate, the 2023 Valspar Augusta Invitational and the national championship.
Senior Rachel Kuehn won the 2022 Jackson T. Stephens Cup and 2023 Valspar Augusta Invitational for her fifth and sixth collegiate titles, respectively. She had previously won the 2019 ANNIKA Intercollegiate, 2021 Palmetto Intercollegiate, 2021 Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invite and 2022 Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge.
Her two individual titles led to her being named ACC Player of the Year for the second straight season, becoming the first player in program history to win that honor twice, and she was also a finalist for the ANNIKA Award presented annually to the top DI women’s golfer.
Along with Kuehn, senior Lauren Walsh, sophomore Carolina Chacarra, junior Mimi Rhodes and Migliaccio were named to the All-ACC Team, the first time all five lineup players have earned that honor in school history.
Other team honors included Chacarra, Kuehn and Migliaccio all participating in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, with Migliaccio reaching the final day and playing at historic Augusta National, and Migliaccio, Kuehn and Walsh being selected for the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup.
No. 1-ranked Wake Forest is keeping the ball rolling into the 2023-24 season — the Deacons have already won three team titles: the 2023 Schooner Classic, 2023 Jackson Stephens Cup and 2023 East Lake Cup.
