BERKELEY – The California women's golf team has announced the signing of Maria Herraez to a National Letter of Intent for the 2016-17 season, becoming the first to announce her intent to join the Golden Bears next season.

Herraez comes to Cal from Madrid, Spain, where she attends IES Ortega and Gasset. She has been a regular in the Spanish national team system while being coached by Alvaro Salto. She was honored as the UFEDEMA (Union de Federaciones Deportivas Madrilenas) 2012 Sportswoman of the Year after winning the U-14 individual Spanish national championship in addition to being the U-14 Spanish National Team champion. Recently, Herraez was the runner-up in the 2015 Spanish U-18 National Championship and also earned fourth place at the Spanish National Amateur Championship.

As a member of the Spain National Team since 2011, Herraez has had a wide variety of success that includes being the 2015 European Team Champion as a member of the U-18 National Team. She and her team competed at the World Junior Girls Championship that was held in Ottowa in 2015 where she placed 32nd individually to help Spain to a sixth-place team finish.

“One of the reasons that I have chosen Cal is because I feel confident and believe that here I'll be able to reach all of my goals both on and off the golf course,” Herraez said. “It has been my dream since I first visited the United States when I was 11 years old. Cal is the number one public university in the world, and I wanted a good balance between my academics and golf.”