In the home stretch of the men’s golf team’s fall season, they come out of the ECAC Division I Championships this past weekend with a sixth place finish, defeating conference rival, Iona, by 40 strokes.
The two-day competition at the Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Charlestown, R.I. proved to be a good overall experience for the team, shooting a 310 on the first day and a 312 on the second day at the par-71, 7,006 yard course.
Senior Captain Dan Quatrocelli said the course was extremely difficult.
“The way they had it set up, it was long with fast greens and the wind was gusting like 30 miles an hour and it was in the low 50’s.”
“You just have to stay positive and wait till you get into a position where you can make up ground,” said Quatrocelli.
Sophomore R.J. Zielinski was the Stags’ top finisher, in a four-way tie for 19th place, shooting an overall score of 155, a 76 the first day and a 79 the second.
Quatrocelli finished in a tie for 23rd place, shooting 78 on both days.
“It’s all about trying to avoid big numbers,” he said. “If you can avoid a double bogie or worse than you will do well. I had four bad holes that cost me, the other 32 were great.”
Junior Captain Rob Tarallo had a rough first day of play, shooting 80, but bounced back with a second-round 77, finishing in a 26th place tie, shooting 157.
Even though the fall season is ending soon, with a three-day tourney next weekend in Cape Cod, the spring season is when the team’s major conference tournament will take place.
Senior Ryan Furman stresses the importance of Head Coach Len Roberto’s methods and techniques as major factors in the team’s performance.
“We have a great coach who really is dedicated to our team and the golf program and has helped it to grow significantly,” said Furman. “With his coaching and our play continuing, we are looking forward to a good spring season.”
Roberto is optimistic going into the winter season, the next major tournament in February at Jackson State University in Mississippi.
“We will work hard over the winter and keep moving forward,” said Roberto. “Maybe not necessarily by score, but the learning experiences help us improve both mentally and physically”.
Quatrocelli, Tarallo, Zielinski, senior Greg Elting, and freshman Kevin Fitzpatrick all hope to contribute good performances to the team which will help them be in the contention for a MAAC Championship title, six months from now.
“We’re going to surprise a whole lot of people this year in the MAACs,” said Roberto. “We keep improving from tournament to tournament, every weekend, both physically and mentally…we keep moving forward”.
Quatrocelli realizes that this year is his last season of play until he graduates in May 2007, but looks forward to seeing how the team will perform in future seasons.
“All I want is for the team to better when I leave than when I got there,” he said.
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