For junior Nuria Clau and the rest of the women's golf team, second place will just have to do.

Clau shot a 1-over 217, tying her for second in the ACC Championships, held April 19-21 at Salem Glen Country Club in Clemmons, and all four of her teammates placed in the top 20 as the Demon Deacons took second as team, combining to shoot a 31-over 895 for the tournament.

However, first place was never much of an option for the Deacs as Duke, the nation's 2nd-ranked team, outdistanced the field by 11 shots after the first round and never looked back, coasting to the conference championship by an easy 29-stroke margin on the par-72, 6,411-yard course. N.C. State finished third with a three-day total of 909, 14 shots behind the Demon Deacons, and Florida State took fourth at 911.

"I was happy with how we played; I think we played well, and it was one of those situations where they recovered well from their mistakes," Head Coach Dianne Dailey said. "I thought we had a chance to make up some ground on Duke on the last day, but it never really happened."

"We just can't make any mistakes," she said. "We have to play our very best to beat them.

"They are beatable, but we can't make any mistakes; we have to be as sharp as we can be."

Consecutive rounds of even-par kept Clau, the nation's 23rd-ranked player according to Golfweek, near the top of the leaderboard throughout the tournament. Her opening-round 72 put Clau in a four-way tie for fourth, trailing leader Virada Nirapathpongporn by two shots.

Her round of even-par on April 20 gave her fourth-place all alone, and when several of the leaders faltered over the final 18 holes, Clau jumped to a second-place tie despite shooting a 1-over 73. The native of Barcelona, Spain, took sixth place at last year's ACC Championships.

"Nuria played exceptionally well," Dailey said. "She got herself in position to win it. She had a really good, positive attitude coming into the tournament."

Freshman Ashley Hoagland also carded a one-over 73 in Sunday's final round, bumping her into a tie for ninth. It was Hoagland's best round of the three-day event, as she shot 76-75 in the first two rounds.

Senior Katie Brenny and sophomore Deb Means finished tied for 12th place at 12-over, the best finish by each player this spring.

Means entered the final round in a tie for eighth, but shot a seven-over 79 to slip out of the top 10. Junior Maria Beautell rounded out the Deacon contingent in 20th place at 17-over par.

While all five Deacons broke the top 20, each member of the Blue Devil quintet placed among the top seven finishers, led by individual medalist Candy Hannemann, who shot 71-72-73 to finish at even par for the tournament. Teammate Nirapathpongporn was tied for the lead entering April 21's round, but was done in by a double-bogey on the par-5 15th.

Nirapathpongporn, who shot a 2-under 70 in the first round and a 1-under 71 in the second round, carded a final-round 76 and slipped into a tie with Clau for second. Kristina Engstrom of Duke, who also shot 70-71 in the first two rounds to match Nirapathpongporn and tie for the lead, ballooned to a 7-over 79 April 21, dropping her to fourth.

Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh finished at 5-over, good enough for sole possession of sixth place overall, and Leigh Anne Hardin finished tied for seventh for the Blue Devils at six-over.

Clau and the Deacons now set their sights on the NCAA Regionals, to be held May 9-11.

Dailey expects her squad to participate in the East Regional, held in Baton Rouge, La., at Louisiana State, but there is an outside chance that they could travel to Lansing, Mich., for the Regional to be held at Michigan State.

The top eight teams in each region advance to the NCAA Championships.

"We don't know for sure where we'll play," Dailey said. "The team is excited; they really want to get to the finals."