It’s Wake Forest, not Stanford, that’s still perfect as Deacs beat Card for Stephens Cup

Stanford’s perfect season is already over.

Wake Forest’s is still alive.

A day after the Cardinal dropped their first stroke-play competition in 535 days, the top-ranked women’s team in the country fell to the Demon Deacons, 3-2, in the match-play final of the Jackson T. Stephens Cup on Wednesday at Shoreacres outside of Chicago.

Wake’s lone senior, Anne-Sterre den Dunnen, took Stanford senior Kelly Xu to 21 holes before earning the clinching point. Transfers Casey Weidenfeld and Morgan Ketchum also won their matches as the Demon Deacons knocked off a team boasting four of the top six amateurs in the world.

“They showed that they can win, obviously, but everyone here contributes, and that’s what’s so amazing about this team,” said Wake head coach Kim Lewellen, whose squad captured last week’s Annika Intercollegiate to open its season.

On Tuesday, Wake junior Macy Pate won the Stephens Cup individual title, following teammate Chloe Kovelesky, who shared the medal at the Annika.

Wake’s next event, the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Intercollegiate, isn’t until Oct 17-19.

Last season, the Demon Deacons handed Stanford one of its two match-play losses, in the semifinals of the ACC Championship; the Cardinal, of course, would later drop the NCAA final to Northwestern.

On the men’s side, LSU didn’t drop a match against North Carolina, winning 4-1. Noah McWilliams was tied with Niall Shiels-Donegan through 21 holes and Alfons Bondesson tied with Sihan Sandhu through 20 holes when Arni Sveinsson earned the clinching point over Keaton Vo.

“They’re pretty tough,” LSU head coach Jake Amos said. “The first event we didn’t have our best stuff and we kind of grinded out a nice finish. We have a lot of good players at home, too, and it’s just really competitive, and it’s shown in how we’re playing right now.”