The only word that describes it is “”bittersweet.””

The No. 25 Arizona men’s golf team shot a 1-over 281 Friday, good enough for a 24th-place finish at the 2007 NCAA Championships at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Course in Williamsburg, Va.

Friday’s round was the best of the three for the Wildcats. They shot a 290 and 287 in the first two rounds, respectively, on the par-70, 6,803-yard course, giving them a total score of 18-over 858. They missed the 54-hole cut by seven strokes.

Though Arizona has essentially proven itself

the No. 24 NCAA Division-I team in the nation, the finish is still disheartening to Arizona’s seniors, said UA head coach Rick LaRose in a phone interview Saturday.

“”If you asked these guys a few years ago if they would like to finish their career at the NCAA Championships, they would have probably been ecstatic,”” LaRose said. “”But you know that they would have liked to do a lot better.””

Arizona’s lineup consisted of four of the seven seniors on its roster: Josh Wilks, who finished 5 over with a 215, Nathan Tyler (6 over), Brian Prouty (7 over) and Josh Esler (8 over). Freshman Pedro Oriol (6 over) was the Wildcats’ fifth man.

“”The boys played pretty hard,”” LaRose said. “”I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t finish higher – and I’m sure they are, too – but there were a lot of good teams out there.””

No. 2 Stanford took the title, overcoming a 30-team field. The Cardinal was the only team to finish under par, with an 11-under 1,109. They were paced by junior Rob Grube, who placed third individually after hitting at 9-under 274.

Someone like Grube is just what Arizona needed, LaRose said.

“”We just don’t have the guy that’s going to shoot a really low score every round,”” he said. “”Most of the teams that did well had one or two guys that were able to shoot low every day. We didn’t have that.””