Kensington, CT – Williams took a 12-shot advantage to the
first tee on day two of the NESCAC Championship and the Ephs
expanded their stroke lead to 13 over second place Hamilton College
in taking home the NESCAC Championship.
A second day total of 299, just two strokes behind Hamilton
College’s 297 was good enough to secure the NESCAC title for
the Ephs (590), with Hamilton finishing second by 13 shots (603),
winning the tie-breaker over Middelbury (613). Host Trinity was
fourth with a team score of 618.
Middlebury's George Baumann took medalist honors with a two-day
total of 144, edging the Eph first year tandem of Drew Murray and
John Killea at 145.
Play on day two was very even across the board of top finishers,
with third place Middlebury carding a 300 and host Trinity ending
in fourth with a 301 day two total.
"Playing with a lead is sometimes more difficult to do in golf
because of the tremendous amount of time to become conscious about
your surroundings. I think we handled the pressure quite nicely and
stuck to our game plan for the golf course on the second day."
Williams got great consistency on day two – Matt Felser
(74), John Killea (74), Drew Murray (76), Jake Wagner (76) and
co-captain Brendan Conley (76). Junior Matt Felser and first year
Jake Wagner had the best round of the day for the Ephs with a 74.
Felser finished with a 147 Wagner finished at 153. Senior Brendan
Conley shot 157 over the course of the two-day tournament.
This win guarantees Williams a bid to the NCAA tournament, which
will be held May 13-16th at the Chateau Elan Resort and hosted by
Emory University. This marks the ninth NESCAC title the Ephs have
won under Pohle and the 10th time Williams has advanced to the NCAA
Tournament in team play -- all under Rick Pohle. "I am especially
proud of the efforts put forth by this group of young men. They
fully support each other (on and off the golf course) and push each
other to improve their games," said Pohle.
"This will be the first time for most of the players from this
team to make the trip to the NCAA Tournament, although Brendan
Conley was on the team that competed in 2005 at Howey-in-the-Hills,
FL," noted Pohle. "I expect to hear from a number of our past
players with encouragement and words of wisdom for this team on
what to expect at the championship. The one change we will have to
deal with is that 35 teams now make it to the NCAA Tournament and
after two rounds the field is cut to the low 18 teams - that will
be our first goal."
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| 2008 NESCAC Champions |
