After earning the program's first NCAA Regional bid in 11 years — when most of the lineup was in elementary school — the USF women's golf team was rewarded with a high-spirited session of … table tennis?

"We're going to kind of hit the release valve and let it breathe a bit,'' Bulls coach Erika Brennan said. "Later on, we'll be crunching some numbers, looking at the field and planning.

"Right now, we're going to enjoy this.''

The good times began to roll last Wednesday afternoon when the NCAA Women's Golf Tournament bids were announced on the Golf Channel. As players and coaches watched with a mixture of confidence, nervousness and tension, four of the six regional fields already had been unveiled.

The wait was borderline interminable.

The fifth site was the PGA National Resort at Palm Beach Gardens.

First, there was quiet. Then there was a massive roar, a few happy tears, players jumping into each other's arms.

The Bulls were in!

For the first time since 2012 — and the 15th time overall — USF women's golf is headed to the postseason. The Bulls are the No. 10 seed for the May 8-10 event at Palm Beach Gardens, joining a 12-team field that is paced by No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Northwestern.

The 72-team NCAA field included 27 automatic qualifiers and 45 at-large teams. The top five teams in each regional advance to the May 19-24 NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Bulls junior Melanie Green, recently named first-team All-American Athletic Conference for the third time, went to the NCAA Regionals as an individual last season. She was assured of another individual berth this time. But Green said it was "indescribable'' to verbalize her emotions in knowing that she would be accompanied by her team this time.

"The postseason is a whole different ballgame,'' Green said. "It's what everyone shoots for and it's why we play. Last year, I was happy to go, but I was missing my teammates. So, it's so awesome that we get to all represent USF.

"Our program is definitely on an upward trajectory. This is the kind of thing that's going to happen every year now. Ever since I got here, there has been constant improvement. It's a great milestone and we're very excited. But we're not finished yet. We want to get to Palm Beach Gardens, play our best golf and we'll be very confident in our chances.''

Brennan, in her fifth full season, said USF's NCAA at-large bid was "the ultimately validation for the way we try to do things, which is not the easy way.''

 

Brennan said USF's program has been built methodically, with great care and planning. She said it's now built to last.

"You can do it quicker if you take shortcuts, but when Coach (Dalton) Stevens and I got here, we were committed to the fact that we would do it in a way that was sustainable,'' Brennan said. "It's the right way. You've got to get the right girls in here. Every year that we've been here has been building to this moment.''

And once that historic moment occurred? Once Brennan witnessed the joy and excitement on the faces of her players?

"The amount of adversity, the amount of grief, the amount of really heavy life stuff that these girls have shared experiences over is really what allowed them to have this mountaintop moment,'' Brennan said. "This is the team that will forever be the catalyst that launches what we've always known that it can be from a recruiting standpoint.

"It's proof of concept because in recruiting we've always shared messaging that we do it different here and we don't take shortcuts. We're not going to reduce you to a score, after any single round, because we really do care about the whole person. For our team to achieve the way that they have this year, it's proof of concept for recruits and a lot of solidification for parents. They know that their kids are going to be taken care of.''

With a regular lineup of Green, Lauren Heinlein, Leonor Medeiros, Juliana Camargo and Alizee Vidal, the Bulls earned a No. 5 seed at the AAC Championships and finished fifth (the third time in the last four AAC tournaments for USF to finish in the upper half). The Bulls closed with their best round of the tournament (5-under-par 283).

Dating back to the fall, USF finished sixth or better in nine of its 11 tournaments.

"I think we had one bad tournament and we played well in the rest of them,'' Green said. "Coming to the facility, I told myself, 'We're going to the NCAAs for sure.' I think we earned this.''

Brennan said USF's weekend national ranking, No. 57, gave her the belief that the Bulls had a spot in the field. But she took nothing for granted.

"I haven't slept good the last couple of nights,'' Brennan said. "You weren't positive how it would all shake out. We felt good, but when you introduce a selection committee … you never know. I have always believed we were deserving and we did what was necessary to earn this spot, so I feel we earned it.''

Brennan said she didn't care about USF's regional destination — as long as the Bulls got in.

"People kept asking me where did we want to go and I just said, 'Yes' '' Brennan said with a laugh. "But if we got a choice, we would have chosen Palm Beach Gardens. It's what we're familiar with — speed of the greens, location, heat, humidity, it's made for us. We can reduce some variables, fine-tune some things and be ready to go.''

Before turning full attention to Palm Beach Gardens, though, there was table tennis. There was team bonding. And for Green, there was the realization that she and her teammates are on the ground floor of something special.

"This is my family, my golf family, and it's an honor to go on this adventure with them,'' Green said. "The best part is knowing that long after we're gone, this program will continue to go to regionals and have success. Every year, we're taking another step. By no means are we done, but we are very proud of this moment.''

– #GoBulls –