WARREN, OHIO, - On Thursday, May 25th, Sonoma State's quest for a second National Championship came to an end as they were defeated 4-0-1 in medal match play to second seed Barry University. SSU would officially secure a 7th place team finish at the NCAA DII National Championship, the program's best finish since 2010.
After hanging on to the 7th seed after yesterday's third round, the Seawolves advanced to the quarterfinals and faced off against Barry University in medal match play. The format was set up for all five golfers from each team to face off against one another. The player with the lowest score after 18 holes would secure a match victory for their team; the team with the most match victories would advance to the semifinals. SSU senior
Jules Lavigne capped off his impressive 2023 campaign with a tie in his match with both players recording a 75 (+3). However, Barry would go on to win the other four matches to advance and end Sonoma State's postseason run.
Lavigne showed great resilience throughout the round as he came back from as many as five strokes down, picking up strokes on the final five holes to tie the match.
Colin Huang was SSU's next best finisher, putting together a 76 (+4) but giving up the lead late to fall by just two strokes. Third year member
Nick Friedman would make an appearance in the quarterfinals and finish with a round of 8-over-par. With the course playing over 7200 yards, it would go down as one of the longest this season.
Griffin Pace struggled down the stretch as his closely contested match would slip away late, losing by five strokes.
Alec Padilla would fall by six strokes after his 78 (+6).
INDIVIDUALS
After the third round of play on Wednesday, the Seawolves had two players inside the top-20 individually as they went down as two of the best individual finishes since 2010. Senior
Griffin Pace capped off a tremendous senior season and SSU career with a four under final round to jump 36 spots, finishing tied for 18th.
Colin Huang proved to be the team's most consistent golfer all week as he was the only golfer to finish all three rounds under par. His third round 69 (-3) jumped him 18 spots as he finished in a tie for 11th, the best individual finish at nationals since Patrick Bauer placed 3rd in 2009 when the Seawolves were crowned National Champions.
FROM THE COACH - VAL VERHUNCE
"The weather for that location and this time of year was actually wonderful. We lucked out with good temperatures and pretty moderate wind all week. The course was exceptional. Great condition, challenging greens and certainly felt like a championship environment. It was one of the longer courses we played all year but with some of the fairway and green complexes, it evened things out a bit. It was really easy to get into a tough spot on or around the green with varying slopes and what not so that was definitely a challenge all week".
"I don't think we played our best golf throughout the first three rounds.
Alec Padilla carried the load early and allowed for Griffin and Colin to put together really nice final rounds on Wednesday. It was an up and down week to say the least but we felt like we had the makings of something special with this group".
"In the match play, we wanted to put our three strongest guys out first and pick up as many points as we could but the course played tough for everyone with only one player finishing under par. The guys battled until the very end and Jules was able to give us some life with a great comeback, finishing his last five holes three under and earning a tie in his match".
"I've told so many people that this group was like a bunch of embers and it just needed the right wind, the right spark, to catch fire and turn into something special. I know it's a bit disappointing to exit earlier than we would have liked but we still put together one of the program's best finishes in over a decade and I'm really proud of this group and the way they fought all year long".
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Seawolves wrap up their 2022-23 season with seven top five finishes in the regular season, an NCAA Regional Championship and their 9th appearance in the National Championship. Congratulations to head coach
Val Verhunce and his group on a terrific season. You can access full 2022-23 team and individual results
HERE.
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