Eastern Michigan’s magical NCAA run may be over, but Eagles still holding heads high

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Eastern Michigan had less than two hours to enjoy the biggest victory in program history, a 3.5-1.5 win over blue-blood Texas in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship on Tuesday afternoon at La Costa. Jasmine Leovao, one of the Eagles’ twin seniors and a native of nearby Oceanside, sank a 15-foot birdie at the par-5 18th, earning the clinching point and igniting a celebration that included head coach Josh Brewer high-kicking with the flagstick in hand.

“Don’t wake me up,” Brewer said moments later.

Not sure if he’d ever coach again after being fired by Georgia after a dozen seasons, Brewer took over an Eastern Michigan program two years ago that was ranked No. 226 in the country, though was on the cusp of a rise thanks to an eight-figure donation from a generous alum. Through his charitable company GameAbove, Keith Stone funded, among other compensatory, operational and developmental needs, an $8 million practice facility that helped Brewer bolster his roster through the transfer portal and would hopefully attract top talent for years to come.

Now, the Eagles were way ahead of schedule, not just qualifying for their first NCAA regional two weeks ago but shocking the world and earning a semifinal date with juggernaut Stanford, which boasts all five starters ranked 17th or better in the world amateur rankings. Conversely, Eastern Michigan’s best player, Janae Leovao, is ranked 143rd.

“I told them at lunch, 99 times out of 100, they beat us,” Brewer said, “but why can’t today be that one time?”

Stanford head coach Anne Walker has built a dynasty, her teams winning three NCAA titles in the match-play era and never missing the knockout stage in 11 seasons. In the last six years, the Cardinal boast more tournament wins (42) than head-to-head losses (35). They won the 72-hole stroke play a day earlier, the sixth straight year they’ve done that.

Perhaps super Stanford’s only kryptonite was the fickleness of match play. The Cardinal had only lost to three teams all season, though two of those were matches, including a defeat at the hands of San Jose State back in early March; the Spartans didn’t even qualify for regionals.

“You fear a great player who has nothing to lose,” Walker said earlier this spring, “and as long as we continue to be in a position where we have a dominant regular season, we will continue to face foes who are swinging free and have nothing to lose, and we’re just going to have to be at our best, if not better.”

Brewer’s Spartans, er Eagles, certainly weren’t afraid of fighting to the death – even they admittedly never thought this possible, at least not right now. Just how big of underdogs were they? Sure, the Leovao twins, who accepted five-figure NIL deals to transfer from Long Beach State last summer and spent good chunks of this spring living in sunny Southern California, are formidable talents, and junior Savannah De Bock, who followed Brewer from Georgia to Eastern Michigan, was once a top-35 amateur.

But sophomore Erina Tan was ranked No. 1,697 in the world – and was ecstatic to learn that she even had a ranking at all. And junior Baiyok Sukterm, whose path to Ypsilanti came through Barton Community College in Kansas and Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky, knew nothing about her opponent, Stanford senior Megha Ganne, a U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and one of the best college players in recent history.

“I promise no one wants to see us because we’re crazy enough to do something even more fun than this,” Brewer said after the Eagles shot the lowest final round to climb six spots to fourth.

For much of the front nine on Tuesday afternoon, David hung with Goliath. But ultimately, the Cardinal proved unbeatable, winning all five matches for the second straight round; Ganne said afterward that the team’s goal is to go 15-0 this week.

“Maybe the best team I’ve ever seen,” Brewer said afterward. “I guess the dream had to end eventually, but I’m just so happy with our team; they battled, and I probably have never had a team excited to accept a semifinalist trophy, but it just shows how far we’ve come in two years.”

NCAA Photos via Getty Images

Eastern Michigan won three times this season and finished second on five more occasions, including at the MAC Championship, where two years ago they’d finished last at 108 over par, 63 shots back of first. To prepare his team for a potential NCAA Championship appearance, Brewer scheduled four of five spring tournaments in the state of California. The Leovao twins split time this semester between Ypsilanti and their home in Oceanside, taking online classes and searching for warmer weather to keep their games sharp.

Brewer calls it the “new model” – and it’s now proven to work, as the Eagles became the first fifth or worse regional seed to ever qualify for a national semifinal.

“They’ve been coachable from Day 1,” Brewer said of his team, which will return all but the twins next season. “I don’t know why, because it seems like it gets harder to do every day, but I don’t know, they just truly believed that they could do something special. An amazing run. You wish you had one more tee time, but it’s OK, we had a lot more than most people.”

And with that, Brewer, still smiling from ear to ear, picked up his 13-month-old son and walked toward the sprawling resort’s clubhouse. The portal opens in two days, and he’s got the support to not only reload but to keep pushing this program to new heights.

He knows his Eagles will be back.

NCAA Women’s Team Match Play National Championship

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