GORHAM, Maine – The Saint Joseph's College men's golf team opened the 2021 campaign with a head-to-head victory over the University of Southern Maine at the Gorham Country Club on Wednesday afternoon.
The in-state rivals both posted a 302 (+18) score but the Monks prevailed as a result of the fifth-score tiebreaker, as junior Cody Rizzo (West Gardiner, Maine) shot an 84 to top USM's Matt Fuller (Mirror Lake, N.H.), who notched an 87.
The Monks fielded eight players in the season opener and seven posted sub-80 scores, as freshmen Drew Mathieu (Windham, Maine) and Cade Buckley (Peabody, Mass.) earned Co-Medalist honors with 72 cards at the par 71 course.
USM was led by Zach Ellsworth (Saranac Lake, N.Y.) and Brogan Kane (Scarborough, Maine), as both shot a 73 and finished in a tie for third place.
THE RUNDOWN:
- Junior Trevor Flanagan (Monmouth, Maine) placed fifth with a 75 (36-39) score
- Junior Sean McDonough (Concord, N.H.) was sixth with a 76 (35-41) card
- Senior Jack Laplume (Old Orchard Beach, Maine) finished 11th (79, 39-40)
- Rizzo rounded out the Monks' opening-day quintet with an 84 (43-41)
- Buckley (72, 36-36), freshman Tyler Snell (Buxton, Maine) (77, 39-38), and senior Johnathan Flynn (Holden, Mass.) (78, 41-37) competed as individuals
NOTEWORTHY:
Today's victory counts as the first career win for third-year Head Coach Jason Riley '16, who previously led the Royal Blue to three runner-up finishes across 13 events over two years, including a second-place finish in the GNAC Championship last spring.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host the 18th Annual John Queenan Memorial Tournament at the Point Sebago Golf Resort on Wednesday, September 8th. The yearly tournament is named in memory of John Queenan, a 2003 graduate of Bow High School who died tragically in an automobile accident just prior to the beginning of his freshman year as a student-athlete at Saint Joseph's.
