The Simon Fraser University men’s golf team concluded its season after losing to St. Leo University in the quarter-final round of NCAA Division II championship match play at the Rock Barn Golf Course in Conover, North Carolina on Thursday.
St. Leo earned three and one-half points to beat the Clan by two points in match play. The Lions, who tied for third in stroke play on Wednesday, were the fourth seed in match play, while SFU was the No. 5 seed. Eight teams qualified for match play after the first three rounds at the NCAA championships.
Simon Fraser, which finished fifth in the three-round stroke play portion Wednesday, ends the season tied as the fifth-best team in Div. II. It is the Clan’s highest finish ever. In 2014, the team finished 17th in its only other appearance at the NCAA championships.
Chris Crisologo and Bret Thompson, respectively, beat and tied their best rounds played at the championships, but the Clan couldn’t overcome three losses by less than two strokes.
“We had the match in our hands and it slipped away on the last couple of holes,” said Clan coach Jared Boddy. “We are very proud of how the team competed and we made a bit of a splash for SFU on the national scene. The other teams know that we are now a team to watch in the future.”
Clan captain John Mlikotic was the first to finish. After a back-and-fourth battle with St. Leo’s James Jessop, Mlikotic was defeated by just one stroke as Jessop ended at eight-over par and Mlikotic at nine-over.
Crisologo concluded his dominant week of play by crushing his opponent by 13 strokes for SFU’s only victory. His 18-hole score of 68 was the lowest round he carded at the Rock Barn Golf Course. It was also the second-lowest score recorded in the opening round of match play.
Thompson was down by two strokes for much of his match and couldn’t recover, losing by that same margin. He ended the day with the Clan’s second-lowest round, carding a 73.
Down two matches to one and needing just one win to advance (as SFU held the tiebreaker), Kevin Vigna tied his match and Alan Tolusso of Burnaby lost by one stroke over the last three holes.
Crisologo and Tolusso had one of the best weeks of their season at the championships. Crisologo tied for eighth individually in the stroke-play rounds, missing a top-five finish by just a single stroke.
Tolusso didn’t compete at the GNAC championships and didn’t finish in the NCAA regional round, but shot a three-round total of 214 to tie for 17th place at the championship and crushing his season average of 226.
“Chris played great all week and so did Alan,” said Body. “It was the best performance from our fifth man all year and we really needed it.”
“Kevin, Bret and John all had their ups and downs but they all battled hard all week without their best stuff this week.”
St. Leo will face top-seeded Lynn in the semifinal round later today (Thursday). Nova Southeastern and Central Missouri also won as all four top seeds advanced to the semifinals.
