Lynn knocked off Florida Tech and Arkansas Tech on Thursday to qualify for the finals.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Florida Southern and Lynn advanced to the 2017 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championship Final at Reunion Resort set for Friday after winning both their quarterfinal and semifinal matchups on the par-70, 7,054-yard Watson Course.
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Lynn will be playing in its fourth match play final since the championships switched to the format in 2011, where the Fighting Knights seek their first national title in program history. Florida Southern College seeks its 13th national title, the first since 2010, while the Mocs make their first appearance in the final of the match play format.
After 36 holes of match play action, we are now just 18 away from crowning the #D2MGolf Match Play Champion!
— NCAA Division II (@NCAADII) May 25, 2017
https://t.co/fonFaW5kql pic.twitter.com/oNB6L1xCEU
Lynn advanced to the finals after defeating Arkansas Tech 3-2-0 in the first semifinal matchup Thursday afternoon. The Florida Southern Moccasins will face Lynn in the finals after a 3-2-0 win over West Florida in the semifinals Thursday afternoon.
In the semifinals, Lynn and Florida Southern both won their matches 3-2-0, moving on to the national final. In the first semifinal matchup, Ryan Spurlock of Arkansas Tech defeated Lynn’s Martin Cancino by five strokes to put the Wonder Boys ahead 1-0 after the first pair came off the course in the semifinals. Mateo Gomez tied things up after he won his semifinal matchup by four strokes over Arkansas Tech’s Luke Cornett at the no. 2 pairing. Felix Kvarnstrom defeated Jonathan Echberg to push the Fighting Knights out in front after three pairs came off the course; Kvarnstrom won by four strokes over Echberg. With Lynn up 2-1, Tomas Gana won the deciding matchup by one stroke over Austin Smith to allow Lynn to advance to the finals. Putter Srinoon earned Arkansas Tech another win with a four-stroke margin over Manuel Torres.
Toto Gana unofficially puts #LynnMGolf in the national Championship with a 1-stroke victory. #QuestFor24 pic.twitter.com/CjtsveQ1Pn
— Lynn Athletics (@Lynn_Knights) May 25, 2017
Florida Southern’s John Coultas started things off for the Moccasins in the semifinals with a three stroke win over West Florida’s Jacob Huizinga. Chase Ibbotson kept it rolling for the Mocs with a seven stroke marginal win over Christian Bosso. Henry Westmoreland notched the first win up three strokes at the no. 3 pairing win over Michael VanDerLaan. Chandler Blanchet’s nine stroke win over Christian Anderson allowed the Argonauts to win back-to-back and tie the match at 2-2 with one to play. Coming down to the final pairing, John VanDerLaan took down the Argonauts’ Bryce Geraghty by 13 strokes, allowing the Mocs to advance with a 3-2 win.
It's happening! @FscMensGolf headed to the National Title Match. Mocs down top ranked West Florida 3-2 and will face Lynn at 9 a.m. Friday.
— FSC Mocs (@FSC_Mocs) May 25, 2017
In quarterfinal matchups, Arkansas Tech advanced to the semifinals after tying with Barry 2-2-1, with a one stroke differential for the tie breaker. In the first pairing, Kyle Brey of Barry and Ryan Spurlock of Arkansas Tech were all squared after 18 holes. Niclas Weiland (Barry) broke the tie after defeating Austin Smith (Arkansas Tech) by one stroke. The Wonder Boys’ Luke Cornett and Putter Srinoon would win the No. 3 pairings and No. 5 pairings, respectively, by three strokes, while the Buccaneers’ Daniel Faccini won the fourth by four strokes over Jonathan Echberg. The stroke differential favored the Wonder Boys as they held a 6-5 upper hand, advancing to the semifinals.
The Lynn Fighting Knights knocked out first time contender Florida Tech 3-1-1. Martin Cancino (Lynn) put the first win in the Fighting Knights corner after defeating Gaelen Trew (Florida Tech) by two strokes. Trew held a two stroke advantage going into the final three holes before three straight bogey’s game Cancino the victory. The Panthers knotted things back up with the second pair as Florida Tech’s Shanren Brienen defeated Mateo Gomez by one stroke. Felix Kvarnstrom (Lynn) and Han Xue (Florida Tech) were square after 18 holes bringing the teams to a 1-1-1 tally. The final two pairings — Lynn’s Tomas Gana vs. Florida Tech’s Max O’Hagan (No. 4’s) and Lynn’s Manuel Torres and Florida Tech’s Jonas Kugel (No. 5’s) — went in favor of the Fighting Knights sending them into the semifinals to face Arkansas Tech.
A clean sweep for the Moccasins of Florida Southern in their quarterfinal matchup against Ferris State saw the Mocs win 5-0-0. Chase Ibbotson defeated Jack Weller in the first pairing by three strokes followed by Michael VanDerLaan’s one-stroke victory over Ben Cook at No. 2. Christian Anderson beat out Seth Terpstra by one stroke in the third pairing before John Coultas, national runner-up, defeated Ryan Bayer by five strokes. John VanDerLaan closed out the sweep with a seven-stroke margin over Andrew Hammett pushing the Mocs into the national semifinals.
West Florida advanced to the semifinals after defeating Newberry 4-1-0. The Wolves got their lone win at the No. 4 spot. Carlos Leandro (Newberry) got past Bryce Geraghty (West Florida) after the Argonaut’s sophomore triple-bogeyed the par-4 No. 4. Leandro would go on to win by two strokes. In the No. 1 pairing’s Jacob Huizinga defeated Evan DeGrazia by five strokes. Christian Bosso took down Spencer Skiff by nine strokes followed by Henry Westmoreland’s eight stroke win over Harry Bolton. Chandler Blanchet, the 2017 individual national champion, defeated Ben Thompson by four strokes to cap off the Argonaut’s win in the quarterfinals.
The 2017 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf National Championship final will start at 9 a.m. ET on Friday at Reunion Resort in Kissimmee, Florida.
