Iona wins the Maryland Eastern Shore Collegiate Challenge
October 28, 2016
The Iona College golf team left Berlin, Md. on Oct.18 with a piece of hardware as they won the 2016 Maryland Eastern Shore Collegiate Challenge. It was the Gaels’ first team win since the Monmouth Invitational in April of 2014.
Iona shot a 910 (+46) overall, seven strokes better than second place North Carolina Central. The Gaels set the tone for the tournament by shooting a 292 on Oct. 17.
The top of the leaderboard was covered in Maroon & Gold as sophomore Devin Delisle came in second, sophomore Paolo Matti placed third, freshman Matt Mirocco finished in fourth and junior Alex Anderson came in sixth. Delisle and Matti both finished at 226 (+10) while Mirocco was one stroke behind at 227 (+11) and Anderson shot a 231 (+15).
“I was hitting my drives well,” Mirocco said. “I set myself up for good par and birdie opportunities.”
The Gaels’ best tournament of the season was highlighted by the outstanding play on the first two days by Delisle. Delisle shot a 72 on Sunday and tournament-low 71 on day one.
“I did a good job of finding a way to make something out of nothing when I got into trouble,” Delisle said.
Coming off an impressive victory, the Gaels traveled to Bethlehem, Pa. for the Lehigh University Invitational on Oct. 21 and 22. Iona hung in the middle of the pack on day one, but fell a few spots on Saturday, giving them a 10th place finish out of 12 schools.
The Gaels shot a 621 (+45) as a school, but senior Brian Fitzpatrick, playing in his final fall tournament, shot a 152 (+8) and was tied for 10th place. Fitz’s +8 was just 9 strokes behind the tournament winner, Fordham’s Joseph Trim. Mirocco shot a 153 (+9), tying himself for 14th while Matti finished shot a 161 (+17) for the weekend.
Delisle was in first place after day one as he shot a tournament- low of 70, but his 85 score on Saturday dropped him down to 20th at the end of the weekend.
This was Iona’s final tournament of the fall season and Delisle noted one major improvement the team needs to make for the spring.
“I think we really need to focus on the mental aspect of the game,” Delisle said. “When it starts going bad we tend to let it get to us and we continue to play bad golf.”
The Maroon & Gold will work hard in the winter and look to come back stronger than ever come the spring season.
