Stanford made a late push on Saturday to come from behind to win the Peg Barnard Invitational. It was the Cardinal’s first victory of the year.

“We’re a very young team, and it’s the first win that we’ve had all year. It feels great because we’ve been working hard all year,” sophomore Catherina Wang said.

The tournament was the last of the regular season and the final one Stanford will host this year. It lasted only two rounds, whereas regular contests last three.

Stanford finished at 23-over-par, four shots ahead of second-place Washington and eight strokes ahead of third-place Oregon State.

However, the Cardinal needed a strong final round to win the tournament for the second straight year. After one day of play, Stanford sat in third place with a team score of 300 — California led with a composite 295, and Washington was close behind at 297.

But the Cardinal shot a tournament-best 291 on the second day of play to pull ahead of the Bears and the Huskies. Cal dropped off significantly in the final round, shooting a 314 to fall into a tie for fifth place with UC-Davis, who elevated their position with a 291, as well. The round was highlighted for Stanford when junior Ki-Shui Liao hit a hole-in-one on the eighth hole.

Stanford was led by sophomore Angela King, who finished at one-over-par. Her one-under-par total on Saturday was the best of the Invitational and helped her wrap up second place in the individual rankings. Washington’s Karinn Dickinson shot even scores on both days to win the individual competition. Junior Mari Chun, who usually leads the Cardinal attack, finished third overall at four-over-par.

Rounding out the team play for the Cardinal was freshman Rebecca Durham, who finished in seventh at four-over-par, and Wang and freshman Piper Miller, who both finished at 11-over.

Liao and senior Saana Rapakko played individually in the Invitational — their scores did not count toward the team’s total. Both shot 16-over-par.

The Cardinal will now focus on the Pac-10 Championship, which will be held next week in Palos Verdes, where Stanford competed in February. The Cardinal finished fifth in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge against some of the toughest competition in the country; that performance ranks among the best of the year for Stanford.

“We had a great three rounds [at Palos Verdes] in the winter,” Wang said.

The team will face similarly tough opponents at the Pac-10 Championship, as the conference is one of the best in the country. Although the Cardinal’s win this weekend is significant, it came at the hands of the weakest field they have played all year — whereas they normally face a number of teams ranked in the top-10 in any given tournament, the only school ranked higher than then-No. 29 Stanford at the Barnard Invitational was then-No. 19 Cal.

Despite moving up to No. 24 in the rankings after its performance this past weekend, the Cardinal is still ranked behind a number of Pac-10 opponents, such as No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 4 Arizona State.

Still, with the long-awaited win now in their pocket, the Stanford women are eager and confident heading into conference championships.

“I believe that we’re going to do well,” said Wang. “I believe that the win will do phenomenal things for [the] overall psyche of the team heading into postseason...it just gives us more momentum going into the Pac-10s.”