DENVER - Florida Southern and Cal Baptist edged an epic back-and-forth battle here Friday morning in the quarterfinals of the 2016 NCAA Division II National Championships as the No. 3 seeded Moccasins hung on for a hard-fought 3-to-2 win over the No. 6 seeded Lancers in the opening round of match/medal play at the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club.
The Moccasins, who finished third in the stroke play portion of the national championships after firing a 13-under par 851 as a team for 54 holes, won three of the five matches over Cal Baptist to advance to face No. 2 ranked and No. 2 seeded Chico State in Friday afternoon's semifinal round of match/medal play. That match is expected to begin around 4:20 p.m. Eastern.
It is the first time since the NCAA introduced the match/medal play round at the Division II National Championships in 2011 that the Moccasins have won a match. In 2013, the Mocs, who were the No. 1 seed in match play after winning the stroke play portion of the championships, fell in aggregate score tiebreaker to No. 8 seed Western Washington as both teams tied and then last season, the No. 8 seeded Mocs fell 3.5-1.5 to top-seed Lynn in the quarterfinal round.
In Friday's quarterfinal match, the Mocs three sophomore All-Americans, John Coultas (Valrico, Fla.), Jimmy Jones (Tampa, Fla.) and John VanDerLaan (Southbury, Fla.) each picked up victories to help lead the Florida Southern to the win.
The Mocs 3-to-2 victory came down to the final hole (No. 9) between Coultas and CBU's Kavan Eubank. Coultas entered the final hole leading holding a 1-up lead and after both players recorded an even-par 5 on the hole, Coultas held on for the 1-up win to seal the Moccasins match/medal play victory.
Along with Florida Southern and Chico State, the other two teams that advanced to the semifinals of match/medal play were No. 1 seeded Saint Leo, who defeated No. 8 seeded Wilmington (Del.) by a score of 4-0-1 and No. 4 seeded Lynn earned a 3-to-2 win over No. 5 seeded Barry. Saint Leo and Lynn will meet in the other semifinal on Friday afternoon.
In Coultas' match against Eubank, Coultas, who was named this year's Sunshine State Conference Men's Golfer of the Year shot a 3-under par 33 on the back nine and then carded an even-par 36 on the front nine and took the lead for good after birding the par-3 No. 8 hole, while Eubank recorded a bogey-4 on the same hole. Going into the eighth hole, both golfers were all squared up after Coultas recorded a bogey and Eubank scored a par on the seventh hole. For the match, Coultas finished with a 3-under 69, while Eubank carded a 1-under 71.
FSC's second match win came from John VanDerLaan as he defeated CBU's Chris Carew by a score of 4-up. For the match, VanDerLaan shot a 5-under par 67, while Carew fired a 1-over 73. Carew opened the match by holding a 1-up lead through the first nine holes, before VanDerLaan scored a par on the 1st hole to square the match and he would go on to win five of the last eight holes to seal the win.
In fact, VanDerLaan's score of 5-under par was tied for the lowest round among all players in the quarterfinals of the match/medal play. Along with VanDerLaan, Saint Leo's Joey Savoie also shot a 5-under 67 in his four stroke win over Wilmington's Andreas Lunding.
FSC's third victory came at the No. 3 spot as Jones defeated CBU's Christian Sanders by two shots as Jones carded a 3-over 75, while Sanders fired a 5-over 77. Jones, who was named PING First-Team All-American on Thursday following the conclusion of the stroke play portion of the national championship, opened his round by shooting a 1-over 37 on the back nine, before carding a 2-over 38 on the front nine. Jones would seal his win by carding a birdie on the par-5 No. 9 hole, while Sanders would score a par on the same hole.
Cal Baptist's two victories came at the No. 4 and No. 5 spots.
At the No. 4 spot, Greg Gonzalez picked up an eight stroke win over freshman Michael VanDerLaan (Southbury, Conn.) as Gonzalez shot a 2-under 70, while Michael VanDerLaan shot a 6-over 80. After VanDerLaan opened the match with a birdie on the 10th hole, Gonzalez would answer on the next hole with a par to square the match. The match would remain squared until Gonzalez played the front nine at 4-under par, while VanDerLaan played the front nine at 4-over par.
At the No. 5 spot, freshman Christian Anderson (Ocala, Fla.), who was battling a sinus infection, fell by four strokes to CBU's Tai Kuida. Kuida finished the match by shooting a 1-under 71, while Anderson carded a 3-over 75. The opening 10 holes proved to be the difference in the match as Kuida won four of those first 10 holes to take a 4-up lead in the match. Anderson, though, would rebound to win two of the final six holes, while the two players tied on the other four holes.
Click here for complete match/medal play results from NCAA Division II National Championships
