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The dream continues: Eastern Michigan shocks Texas to advance to NCAA semifinals in women’s golf

Eastern Michigan's Janea Leovao defeats national champ O'Keefe
Eastern Michigan's Janea Leovao defeated individual national champion Farah O'Keefe of Texas in the quarterfinals of team match play and celebrated with family and friends.

Stanford, USC and Arkansas have punched their tickets to the NCAA semifinals in women’s golf at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California.

But it’s Eastern Michigan that will raise the most eyebrows in the final four. The program that was once ranked outside the top 200 in the country is now sitting two rounds away from a national championship.

Jasmine Leovao carried the Eagles through with a clinching putt, about 90 minutes after her twin sister had knocked off NCAA individual champ Farah O’Keefe.

“Don’t wake me up,” said head coach Josh Brewer after the win. “The stuff out of storybooks ... why stop them?”

“Just keep breaking hearts, just keep making history,” said Jasmine of the team’s motto right now. “I’m so proud of this team, nobody thought we’d make it here but we kept believing ourselves and that’s what we did. I’m just so happy I made that putt and to keep going on.”

The semifinals take place on Golf Channel Tuesday night beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

The NCAA Women’s Team Match Play Semifinals are underway at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

Elsewhere in the field, the Trojans are seeking the program’s first-ever team national championship of the match-play era, while their next opponent (Arkansas) has never made it this far.

Sara Brentcheneff’s par putt to close out her match sealed it for the Razorbacks.

Top-ranked Stanford shut-out Pepperdine in a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 8. They play the No. 5-seeded Eagles next.

“Nobody wants to see us because we’re crazy to do something even more fun than this,” Brewer said of his team’s Cinderella moment on Monday.

That came to fruition Tuesday at the quarterfinals where Janae Leovao defeated O’Keefe.

“My mentality was that I was either going to win or learn, and I did both today,” she told Golf Channel after the round.

The Leovao sisters are from Southern California, about 20 minutes from La Costa, and got to celebrate the moment in front of their family.

“The biggest crowd I’ve ever seen, I’m just so thankful,” Jasmine said. “Being close means a lot.”

With the win over Texas, Eastern Michigan secured the best result in the NCAA women’s championship this century for a team making its debut. Purdue and Illinois each finished ninth, while Louisville finished 10th in its debut in 2007.