PALM DESERT, Calif. - After securing its spot in the field nearly seven months ago, the University of Northwestern Women's Golf team's biggest week of the year is here. The Eagles are one of 34 teams teeing it up in the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Golf National Championship at Desert Willow Golf Resort in the California desert. National qualifiers for the third-consecutive season and the fourth time in as many years, UNW hopes to catch fire in the desert. Follow along with the action all week here.

Day One

Northwestern was one of six teams to tee off bright and early at 7:00 AM local time, beginning its round on the back nine of Desert Willow's Firecliff course. It took the Eagles a few holes to wake up after the early morning start, but a pair of them closed the day with fantastic finishes to break 80. Bri Brandt (Blaine, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) was the low Eagle on the day, firing a 78 (+6) in her NCAA Championship debut to position herself in a tie for 68th place. After shooting a 41 on the back nine, the freshman carded a 37 on the front, with a birdie on the par-four fourth hole, to carry some momentum into Wednesday's round. Brandt was joined in the 70s by Paige Johnson (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool), who is participating in her third-straight national tournament. The vet got off to a shaky start and was +7 through four holes, but found the slot and played the final 14 holes at even par, including birdies on holes 15 and eight, to turn in a score of 79 (+7), good for a tie for 84th.

Morgan Eckman (Jordan, Minn./Jordan), UNW's other junior veteran, had an uncharacteristic day on the unforgiving Firecliff greens, but still recorded a respectable score of 81 (+9), despite having no birdies on the card. The other score counting toward Northwestern's total of 334 (+46) for the day was Ellie Rolland's (Otsego, Minn./Rogers), who is playing in her second NCAA Championship in as many years. The sophomore turned in a 96 (+24), while freshman Brielle Lenz (Marshfield, Wis./Marshfield) was just behind her with a 98 (+26) in her tournament debut.

The Eagles will tee off on the first hole of the Mountain View course beginning at 9:45 AM CT (7:45 local) on Wednesday as they make one final push to make the cut. The top 15 teams and top six individuals not on those teams will play Thursday and Friday before a champion is crowned. UNW is in 29th place, 43 shots behind the leaders from Carnegie Mellon and 27 shots behind the current cut line.

Day Two

Northwestern was able to sleep in for an additional 45 minutes on Wednesday before taking on Desert Willow's Mountain View course. With higher temperatures forecasted and a later start, the Eagles knew mental toughness would be required to perform at a high level, and they wound up improving their team score by 13 strokes, finishing in 28th place with a score of 321 (+33) on the day and +79 for the championship. Bri Brandt (Blaine, Minn./Legacy Christian Academy) displayed an immense amount of mental toughness for a freshman on the highest stage, tying her career-low of 74 to finish the tournament at +8 and in a tie for 50th place, ultimately missing the individual cut by four shots. The rookie showed impressive resolve all day, bouncing back from bogeys and double bogeys which may have made other freshmen unravel to make pars on the next holes each time. After bogeying the second hole, Brandt went on to play the next nine holes two-under par, briefly being under par for her round and threatening the cut line. A double bogey on hole 12 could have derailed her round, but she parred five out of her last six to turn in a 74.

The other bounce-back story for UNW was Morgan Eckman (Jordan, Minn./Jordan), who answered her Tuesday 81 with a 76 (+4) on Wednesday. The junior started her day +2 through six before birdieing holes seven and nine to come in at 37. After a shaky start to her back nine, the vet concluded her season in style by birdieing the final two holes to card a 76 and finish at +13 for the championship, in a tie for 87th. After shooting a gritty 79 (+7) in the opening round, Paige Johnson (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool) picked up where she left off by shooting even-par with a pair of birdies on the front nine of Mountain View. Unfortunately, she was not able to sustain the momentum, finishing with a score of 83 (+11) in round two and +18 for the week. Brielle Lenz (Marshfield, Wis./Marshfield) looked more at home on Wednesday, improving her score by eight strokes to shoot an 88 (+16) that featured a birdie on hole four and seven pars. Ellie Rolland (Otsego, Minn./Rogers) recorded six pars on Tuesday, on her way to a 92 (+20), which was six shots better than her Firecliff score.

This concludes the 2025-26 season for Northwestern, who missed the team cut by 40 strokes. It will go down as the most successful in program history to this point, with team records for low team round, low individual round, and low season averages for both an individual (Eckman) and team. It was also the most depth the Eagles have had, with each of the five players brought to California shooting in the 70s at various points throughout the season, three medalists and seven team wins.