The Stanford women’s golf team entered the Pac-10 Championships as the sixth-best team in the conference, and despite momentum heading into the tournament, was unable to improve upon its ranking — the Cardinal finished in sixth place.

No. 25 Stanford came into the Pac-10s with plenty of momentum and high hopes. They won their first tournament of the year, the Peg Barnard Invitational, on April 12, and looked to continue their success against their conference opponents.

“We have a lot of confidence,” said junior Catherina Wang on Monday. “The [Peg Barnard] was very important to our psyche.”

In preparation for the tournament, the Cardinal spent extra time working on its putting; the team’s short game has been sporadic all year.

“[We’ve] been working phenomenally hard on our games and it just makes our whole team atmosphere very positive,” said Wang.

But when the tournament started, the Cardinal soon found itself in a hole, as strong performances from No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Southern California and No. 4 Arizona State left Stanford 17 shots out of first place after the first round. However, they stood only a single shot behind fifth place, and certainly within striking distance of a top finish.

Such a result hinged on a successful second round, but the day did not bode as well for the Cardinal as it would have hoped — the team worsened its first round score by six shots, and was in seventh place. With that performance — and the continued stellar shooting of the Bruins, Trojans and Sun Devils — the Cardinal’s chances of a top three finish slipped away.

Still, with a stellar third round (and a bit of luck), Stanford could have conceivably crept into the top five — the team finished the second day ten shots behind fourth place.

The Cardinal made a respectable push in the final round, but they simply could not catch either California or Arizona, who tied for fourth place. The women finished five shots behind the Golden Bears and the Wildcats, but moved up a position to their ultimate sixth place slot with a final team score of 61-over-par.

Stanford was led by Wang, who shot one-under-par in the final round to finish in a tie for tenth in the individual rankings. Following her was junior Mari Chun — normally Stanford’s leader, although she’s been eclipsed by her teammates in recent tournaments — who ended with a score of 16-over, and sophomore Angela King, who entered the clubhouse at 17-over. Rounding out the Cardinal scorers were a pair of freshman, Piper Miller and Rebecca Durham, who placed in 30th and 34th, respectively.

The tournament, though, belonged to USC, who finished at eight-over-par, an incredible 26 shots lower than second place UCLA. Trojan Paola Moreno won the individual tournament at -1, and all four of her USC teammates placed in the top ten — none shot worse than +7. Wang, by contrast, led Stanford at +10.

Arizona State, who finished in third, had three players in the top ten and could have easily taken second place, but was brought down by poor performances from their other two team members.

But the Sun Devils finished far ahead of Arizona and Cal, illuminating the makeup of the Pac-10: although it’s deep, it is fairly top-heavy, as UCLA, USC and Arizona State have been dominant throughout the year.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the three squads nearly swept the conference awards, which were presented at the tournament. UCLA’s Tiffany Joh won Pac-10 Golfer of the Year, while USC’s Lizette Salas and Andrea Gaston took home Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.

The All-Pac-10 Team was comprised of three Trojans, two Sun Devils, two Bruins and a lone Wildcat. Stanford had two players on the award lists: Chun was named to the Second Team, and Wang was given an honorable mention.

Now, Chun, Wang and the rest of their Cardinal teammates will await judgment from the NCAA to see if their season continues. The NCAA Regional brackets will be announced on April 28, and the Cardinal is looking for a spot in a tournament in which it placed fifth last year.