The seniors were sent to the Eagle Eye golf course in Bath, Mich., near East Lansing on Wednesday.
Goecke is an automatic qualifier, having won the Horizon League tourney last week, and Mathiesen, the 2022 league champ, earned an invitation based on his rank in the NCAA’s criteria, the GolfStat.com ratings.
Goecke is 134th nationally and Mathiesen 166th.
“Whether you’re part of a team or an individual, you’re going to be playing against the best dudes in the country. But those guys always want to get into tournaments and play the best competition, and I think they’ll rise to the occasion,” Lash said.
Goecke and Mathiesen both broke Ryan Wenzler’s school record for season average — twice.
Goecke had a 70.47 average in 2021-22 and is at 70.36 this year, while Mathiesen averaged 71.42 last season and is currently at 71.0.
Wenzler set the record of 71.73 in 2016-17.
“One day you can be ‘careering’ it, and the next day you feel like you don’t even know what’s going on. For them to be able to go out there every week, every tournament, and play really solid, it’s really special,” Lash said.
“When those guys are gone, hopefully people step in and do the same thing. But at the end of the day, I don’t think those kinds of guys are going to walk through the doors of this program every year.”
Credit: Erin Pence
Credit: Erin Pence
A total of 81 teams and 45 individuals were selected for six regional sites. Five teams and one player not in the top-five teams at each locale will qualify for the nationals May 26-31 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Raiders finished second as a team in the league tourney, five behind surprise champion Purdue Fort Wayne, which also was sent to Bath as the 13th (last) seed.
Illinois is the No. 1 seed.
No other HL players were picked as individuals, and while the Raider stars will have to go low to advance, both have shown they can.
Goecke, a Carroll grad, has been in the 60s in 13 of his 33 rounds this year with a 65 and 64.
Mathiesen, who was born in Denmark and raised in Qatar, has had nine sub-70 rounds with a season-best of 65.
They also fared well against Illinois at the Dayton Flyer Invitational at NCR last October. Goecke’s three-round score of 215 was better than any posted by the champion Illini, while Mathiesen had a 221 for the third-place Raiders, beating three of the Big Ten team’s starting five.
“That was a long time ago, so a lot can happen. But seeing how they played relative to those guys, they know they can go in and play well and play with those guys,” Lash said.
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