GORHAM, ME – Saint Joseph's defeated University of Southern Maine 322-324 in the SJC-USM Golf Kick-Off Classic at the Gorham Country Club on Thursday afternoon. Sophomore Kevin Richardson (Coventry, Conn.) garnered medalist honors with a 76 card in the event, which was the 2011 season-opener for both teams.

For Richardson, the 76 card is the lowest of his career and the best 18-hole score posted by an SJC linker since Matt Cotreau '10 collected medalist honors with a 73 in the University of New England Invitational on September 5th, 2008.

Jake Brown '13 (Lewiston, Maine) also carded a career-best 79 to finish third individually while Jeff Hilton '13 (Limington, Maine) added an 82 – a score that ties a personal best – and Ebb Walton '12 (Blue Hill, Maine) registered 85 strokes. T.J. Garske '12 (Federal Way, Wash.) checked in with a 96 card on the day.

For the Huskies, Josh Hogan '13 (Falmouth, Maine) scored a 78 to place second individually, Brett Kapetina '12 (Stanford, Conn.) carded an 81, A.J. Simokaitis '14 (Falmouth, Maine) added an 83 and John Gagliano '14 (Windham, Maine) registered an 82 score. Nick Mullins '12 (Naples, Maine) shot an 84 in what was the season-opener for both programs.

The top four scorers for each team accounted for the team tallies, as the high individual card for both teams did not count towards the final score.

The victory is the first for the SJC golf team since the Monks won the UNE Invitational on September 27th, 2007. St. Joe's also had a medalist on that day as Cotreau carded a 69 in the four-team event to garner individual honors.

Also, the event marked the first time a pair of SJC golfers posted a sub-80 score since Cotreau and Steve Sands '10 shot 73 and 78, respectively, in the 2008 UNE Invitational.

Saint Joseph's will participate in the Maine-Farmington Invitational at the Sunday River Golf Club on September 15th. USM returns to the links on September 10th when the Huskies begin play in the two-day Bowdoin Invitational at the Brunswick Golf Club.

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