April 9, 2006

PRINCETON, N.J. - Four Wildcat golfers teamed up to turn in scores of 74, 75, 76 and 77 in the second round of the Princeton Invitational and Villanova produced a team score of 302 that was four strokes better than in Saturday's first round. However, the Wildcats dropped in the team standings and wound up finishing ninth out of 14 teams in the field. Senior captain Jonathan Hewett (Sioux Falls, S.D.) finished in a tie for 12th place out of 75 golfers with a two-day score of 74-75=149, going just seven-over-par for the weekend.

For the third time in as many tournaments this spring, Villanova had a strong showing against the other Big East teams in the field. Georgetown finished ahead of the Wildcats in fifth place, but the Hoyas are the only conference team to finish ahead of Villanova in a tournament this spring. The Wildcats beat out St. John's and Rutgers over two days at the 6,380-yard course at the Springdale Golf Club. Villanova is 8-1-0 (.889) in head-to-head competition against Big East teams this spring.

Hewett finished in the top-20 of a tournament for the fourth time this season, including the third straight competition. He was two strokes ahead of junior Steve Arnold (Langhorne, Pa.), who tied for 18th place with a score of 75-76=151 (+9). The top score for the Wildcats on Sunday was the round of three-over 74 from freshman Andrew Alexander (Rochester, Minn.). He tied for 38th place with a tournament score of 154, while senior Colin Mahon (Rhinebeck, N.Y.) tied for 58th place with a 36-hole total of 158. Freshman Doug Stadler (Wexford, Pa.) carded a 77 on Sunday for the Wildcats' fourth counting score, and he finished the weekend tied with Mahon in 58th place.

Ivy League rivals Columbia and Princeton battled for the top two spots atop the team standings, with the Lions claiming the tournament title by two strokes over the host Tigers. Columbia's Chris Condello shot identical rounds of 70 to win medalist honors by three strokes. He was the only player in the field to finish under par for the weekend.

Villanova returns to action next weekend at the Navy Spring Invitational. That tournament will be played on Friday and Saturday in Annapolis, Md.