Girls golf: Matschke leads Franklin to sectional championship

MENOMONEE FALLS – This time the feeling was so much more satisfying.

A year ago Franklin’s girls golf team was on the short end of a two-team playoff that sent Brookfield Central to the state meet and left the Sabers just short of what would have been their second straight state appearance.

This year, however, there would be no catching the Southeast Conference champion. Franklin shot a season-low round of 321 to win the Brookfield Central Sectional at Wanaki Golf Course by four strokes over Central, a team that beat it in the couple of events they played together this season 

“We lost in that playoff in a year when we thought we had a good chance to make it to state,” Franklin coach Brandy Johnston said, “so this year those girls stepped up and came through when it mattered.”

Central earned the second state meet berth. The individual qualifiers from the sectional were Divine Savior Holy Angels senior Lorenza Martinez, New Berlin senior Andrea Groendal and Menomonee Falls junior Cosette Shefelker.

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Franklin's fine play started at the top of the lineup.

Senior Courtney Matschke arrived at the sectional fresh off a victory at the Southeast Conference meet that allowed her to wrap up the league’s player of the year award and a first-place showing at the regional at Muskego Lakes last week, where she shot  a 4-over 76 to win by three strokes.

Tuesday she fired a 3-over 74 to finished two strokes better than Central senior Emily Balding.

With the help of birdies on a couple of par-4s (No. 2 and 4), Matschke was even par at the turn. She had three bogeys on the first five holes of the back nine but closed her round by shooting even par on the final four holes.

She is riding high heading into state, where she tied for 22nd last season and tied for 43rd as a sophomore.

“Last year my round, I wasn’t too comfortable with it coming in and I knew I needed to do better that day,” Matschke said. “Today I obviously left a couple of putts out there, but coming in I felt more confident in the round today than last year and I felt very confident in our team as well.”

The sectional title came down to Franklin and Brookfield Central – DSHA finished a distant third – and the Sabers got the best of the Lancers in three of the four scored positions.

The teams’ No. 2 players, sophomore Mallory Swartz of Franklin and senior Lexi Romero of Central, tied for third with 79s, but Franklin senior Grace Pugh (81) finished three strokes ahead of Central’s third-best score of the day while senior Melanie Peck was just one stroke back of the Lancers’ No. 4.

“We thought we were going for second, so winning was really special,” Johnston said. “It’s a little more than we expected for sure."

Central, meanwhile, qualified for state for the ninth straight year and survived one its highest round of the season. 

With a team that returns all five state performers from last season, the Lancers will try to build on that team’s sixth-place finish in 2016.

“We didn’t play really well today, but we accomplished our goal of by qualifying for state with a fun group of kids … ,” Central coach Brian Scrobel said. “Lexi and  Emily shooting those scores really helped right the ship and really gave us a sense of calm and let everyone else kind of battle to be able to salvage the round today.”