WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – For the second consecutive year and the third time in four years, the University of Northwestern Women's Golf team is closing out its school year by participating in the NCAA Division III Women's Golf National Championship. The Eagles, in the field thanks to automatically qualifying by winning last fall's UMAC Championship, are one of the youngest teams in the field with four sophomores and a freshman in the lineup. The tournament began Tuesday at Kingsmill Resort and will conclude on Friday, with both a team and individual cut made following round two. Follow along with up-to-the-minute live scoring all week long here.
 
Day One
 
The opening day of the 2025 NCAA Division III Women's Golf National Championship was certainly a memorable one. Northwestern was one of three teams to be first on the course at 8:00 AM ET, and didn't finish its first round until 12 hours later. UNW played most of the Plantation Course's front nine in a steady and at times, powerful rain, before play was suspended. The delay lasted nearly five hours and continued well after the rain had stopped, to allow the partially-flooded course to dry up. The rain returned within minutes of play resuming, but soon subsided and briefly gave way to the day's first dose of sunshine. The Eagles finished their round in some heavy winds coming off the James River, and performed admirably given the circumstances, shooting a team score of 352 (+64). Northwestern's standing heading into round two is not yet known; however, as only 10 of the 34 competing teams were able to finish 18 holes on Tuesday.
 
Morgan Eckman (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) was undeterred by the inclement weather and long layoff, turning in a ridiculous score of 76 (+4), which currently slots her in a tie for 35^th place, individually (and likely to move up once round one concludes). The sophomore made birdies on the par-four sixth and the par-three 17^th, and shot 38 (+1) on the back nine after the five-hour wait. Paige Johnson (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool) had the second-best score for UNW in round one, carding an 86 (+14) that included a birdie on hole 15.
 
Isabelle Lee (Stillwater, Minn./St. Croix Prep) had a strong start to her day, making a birdie on the par-four third hole and shooting 42 on the front nine to set up a final total of 91 (+19). Sondra Melby (Ham Lake, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) and Ellie Rolland (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) each shot 99 (+27) to round out Northwestern's round one lineup.
 
Originally set to begin round two at 8:00 AM CT (9:00 AM ET) on Wednesday, the Eagles will now begin their second round in Williamsburg at 9:40 AM CT (10:40 AM ET) to allow the remaining teams to complete their first 18 holes. UNW will be playing the River Course on Wednesday, after which the top 15 team scores in the field will advance beyond cut day to play Thursday and Friday. Additionally, the top six individuals on the leaderboard who are not on one of the aforementioned 15 teams will play Thursday and Friday as well. Stay tuned to unweagles.com and @unweagles on social media for more coverage from Virginia.

Day Two

Northwestern's second round started a little bit later than originally scheduled, to allow the 24 teams who hadn't finished their opening round to catch up, but when Ellie Rolland (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) stepped onto the River Course's 10th tee box (UNW's opening hole), the climate was about as perfect as you could ask for. By the day's conclusion, however, Rolland wound up being the only Eagle to play all 18 holes, doing so with a score of 101 (+29). With the rest of the team on holes 17 and 18 of the day, the horn was blown, signaling a weather stoppage. Conditions only got worse from then on out, and play was officially suspended for the day, to be resumed Thursday morning.

Coming off an outstanding 76 (+4) in round one, Morgan Eckman (Jordan, Minn./Jordan) was cooking early in round two, opening up the day with back-to-back birdies to put her at +2 for the tournament and knocking on the door of the top 10 individual scores. When her day finished after 16 holes, the sophomore was at +4 for the day and +8 for the championship. Paige Johnson's (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool) day also came to an abrupt halt on the 8th tee box (her 17th hole), but with a score of +8 for the round and +22 for the week. Her lone birdie of the day came on the par-five third hole, and she made nine pars.

Isabelle Lee (Stillwater, Minn./St. Croix Prep) was able to get through 17 holes, and did so in impressive fashion. The sophomore made six pars and a birdie on the par-three 13th, and sits at +10 for the round and +29 for the tournament. Sondra Melby (Ham Lake, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) used a birdie on the par-three 17th hole to put her at +14 for the round and +41 for the championship with two holes to finish.

The Eagles will return to Kingsmill Resort Thursday morning to finish their second round. Once all participating teams have made it through 36 holes, the top 15 teams and top six individuals that are not members of the top 15 teams will swiftly begin round three competition. While Northwestern appears to be out of the running for one of the team spots, Eckman could be in the mix for one of the individual spots with a strong finish. We will provide final round two updates on unweagles.com and @unweagles once the round has concluded on Thursday.