Ephs claim 12th consecutive Little Three title at Wesleyan

Complete Results

MIDDLETOWN, CT – Wesleyan played host to the Little Three golf championship this year and at the end of morning play the Ephs had a 2-2 tie with Amherst, but showing strong form, the Ephs came back with a strong effort in the afternoon singles matches to claim their 12th consecutive Little Three title at Lyman Orchards G.C.

Williams defeated Wesleyan 12-0 and Amherst 8-4, while Amherst downed Wesleyan 8-4 to capture second place.

The championship consists of 4 alternate shot matches in the morning and 8 singles matches in the afternoon for a 36 hole showdown of exciting match play.

Williams trounced Wesleyan in the morning, gaining all 4 points. However, the Ephs had some trouble against Amherst in the morning portion of alternate shot play, as they concluded in a tie with 2 points apiece. “We survived the morning alternate shot format with a 2-2 split against Amherst,” said Coach Pohle, “but, I think the teams that lost their matches 1 down would admit that they didn't take advantage of several opportunities that were presented to them.” Starting the Ephs off in the morning, the first year paring of Siwol Chang and Chris Valle posted a very impressive 8&6 victory against Amherst and 4&3 over Wesleyan. Bob Camp ‘11 and Drew Murray ‘11 soon followed with additional points over both of their rivals.

The afternoon portion of singles matches would find the Ephs getting off to rather quick starts and forcing the issue against the underdog Lord Jeffs and the out manned Cardinals. Those fast starts enabled a couple of matches to turn into blow-outs as co – captain Tyler Zara and sophomore Drew Murray posted lopsided wins against both schools, with a 5&4 victory by Zara against both Amherst and Wesleyan, and a 6&5 victory by Murray against Amherst and a 4&3 victory against Wesleyan. Senior co-captain, Matt Felser found his stride and cruised to his 5&4 victory over Amherst's Chris Valentine. Jack Killea '11 finished strong to record his victory over Amherst and Wesleyan.

First year, Siwol Chang had perhaps the biggest turn around coming from 3 down to post a 2 up victory over Amherst's Adam Schneiderman, also defeating his Wesleyan opponent 4&3. "I would say that our players stayed pretty focused throughout their matches today,” said Coach Pohle, “I know they felt that they were the stronger of the three teams, but match play is a different animal and we have struggled for consistency all year long - the 2-2 split in the morning alternate match format might have been the catalyst that we needed to perform better in the afternoon."

Matt Felser and Tyler Zara ended their college career as the 8th straight Eph class to graduate with 4 Little Three titles. Next year's Little Three Championship will be hosted by Amherst College.