Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Susquehanna Begins Defense of Empire 8 Men’s Golf Championship

ROCHESTER, NY – Susquehanna University begins its quest for back-to-back conference titles as the opening two rounds of the 2010-11 Empire 8 Men’s Golf Championship take place Saturday and Sunday at the Yahnundasis Golf Club in New Hartford hosted by Utica College. 

The third and fourth rounds of the championship will be hosted by Moravian College on April 16 and 17.  The top five scorers at the end of the tournament will earn first-team all-conference honors with the next five finishers being named to the second team.
In its first year in the conference, Susquehanna snapped the five-year title reign of St. John Fisher College.  The Crusaders, who must replace Empire 8 Player of the Year and All-American Mitch Mercer, open their fall campaign at the Moravian Tournament tomorrow.

St. John Fisher finished second in last year’s championship after holding a slim lead entering the spring portion of the tournament.  The Cardinals return first-team all-conference players Brady Yates and Chris Clapper, second-team honoree Joseph Radulski, and 2008-09 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year Tyler McArdell.  Clapper finished fifth overall to lead St. John Fisher to the team title at this past weekend’s St. Lawrence Invitational.

Four teams battled for third place in last year’s conference championship with Moravian using a strong last round to earn third place.  Senior Seth Hartman (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown HS), pictured at left, received second-team all-conference recognition last year.

Junior Dylan Bedy earned first-team all-conference honors last season and was the top finisher for Nazareth College at the St. Lawrence Invitational, tying for eighth place in the 65-player field.  The Golden Flyers, who placed fourth in the Empire 8 championship last season, finished sixth in the 12-team field at St. Lawrence.

Elmira College finished fifth in last year’s conference tournament, just two strokes out of third place.  The Soaring Eagles placed seventh at St. Lawrence behind second-team all-conference returnees Howie Fleischman (11th) and Alex Marcoux (16th).

The University of Scranton placed sixth in its first Empire 8 Championship tournament appearance.  The Royals opened this season by capturing the team title at the Utica College Invitational behind fourth-place finishes from sophomore Chris Schank and junior Rob Bresnahan.  The Utica tournament also included Empire 8 teams Nazareth, Elmira, Stevens Institute of Technology and the host Pioneers.

Sophomore Scott Reardon was the top player for Stevens last year and he led the Ducks to a sixth-place finish at the Utica Invitational.  Co-captains Aaron Dennis and John Ziegler have been mainstays for the program, now in its fifth varsity season.

Juniors Matt Jarvi and Isaac Noma each shot a 79 to lead Utica to its best team score in more than a year with a 321 in a victory over SUNY IT in a dual match on Friday.  The Pioneers placed fifth in their own tournament with Mike Reilly shooting a 75, just two shots off medalist honors.

Release courtesy of Empire 8 Conference office.