By Sports Editor Tom Griffin
A hard-luck squad of Corsair golfers represented UMassD to an unfortunate finish at the Southern Maine Invitational in Gorham, Maine, turned their luck around to manage fourth and third-place finishes in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.
Of the seven schools in attendance at the tournament, UMassD fell to dead last through two days of eighteen holes. On Gorham’s 71-stroke par layout, the five participating Corsairs accrued a total of 661 strokes.
The Gorham course was particularly difficult for everyone in attendance. The University of Southern Maine’s Tristan Dundas, while placing first overall, still finished three strokes over par after a comparatively rocky +4 opening day. On the other hand, sophomore Garrett Lane, one of UMassD’s highest ranking Corsairs, managed a three-way tie for eighteenth (of thirty-five participants) after finishing nineteen over par. Also included in that tie for eighteenth was Ethan Johnson, a freshman at UMassD.
Other Corsairs dot the lower end of the standings, with freshman Daniel Strode ranking in at twenty-sixth with +27, freshman Ryan Muniz at twenty-seventh with +29, and sophomore Paul DeSantis at thirty-first with +36.
Following the tough-to-swallow defeat at Southern Maine, the Corsairs were looking to place in their next event, and place is exactly what they did.
Following a passable +319 on the first eighteen at Biddeford Saco Country Club, the Corsairs were seated at a comfortable but middling fourth place of eight colleges. On the second day, however, the Corsairs marginally improved to an elevated +314, bringing their two-day stroke total to 633. This slight improvement, coupled with a rougher +325 day for St. Joseph’s, catapulted UMass Dartmouth to even strokes with the former school, tying with them at third.
UMass Dartmouth sophomore Jack McDonald managed to tie for ninth place individually with St. Joseph’s Trevor Flanagan, each at 154 strokes overall. Once again pound-for-pound with the Maine-based school they tied with, UMassD’s own Charlie Karagosian, freshman, tied for fourteenth with St. Joseph’s Sean McDonough at 159 strokes. Rounding out this UMassD comeback roster were senior Nick Avilla and freshman Alexander Le Gassick, two components of a four-way tie for sixteenth place alongside St. Joseph’s Brendan Donovan and Albertus Magnus’ Liam Deane, all at 160 strokes apiece.
Despite an otherwise dreadful showing in Gorham earlier in the week, cooler heads on the golf team prevailed, and UMass Dartmouth fought its way to a respectable bronze finish, albeit shared with a near statistically identical equal.
Tournament play resumes, and subsequently concludes, with the two-day NEIGA Championships in Brewster, starting October 20th.