April 4, 2007

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Senior Steve Arnold (Langhorne, Pa.) tied for second place overall and Villanova had a strong showing all-around at the Bradford Creek Intercollegiate on Monday and Tuesday. The Wildcats were making their first appearance at the event, hosted by East Carolina University.

Arnold fired identical scores of four-under-par 68 in the final two rounds of the 54-hole tournament and was just three strokes off the medalist pace in a field that included 80 golfers. He made either par or birdie on all but three of the holes he played and finished with a three-round score of 208 (-8) to lead Villanova. Overall, Arnold counted 12 birdies and 39 pars for the tournament.

The play of Arnold helped the Wildcats place sixth out of 15 teams at the event. Villanova posted team scores of 291-285-290=866 (+2) to finish 19 strokes off the pace set by team winner Radford (847). Also finishing ahead of the Wildcats were Furman (848), East Carolina (855), Barton College (857) and Kennesaw State (858).

The play of Arnold led a series of top performers for Villanova, which placed its top three golfers in the top half of the field. Sophomore Brett Bergman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) carded rounds of 71-71-75=217 (+1) and tied for 26th place. Classmate Doug Stadler (Wexford, Pa.) was three strokes behind with a 54-hole total of 220 that placed him in a tie for 40th place.

Senior Brock Bergman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was tied for 48th individually with a final score of 222 and sophomore Andrew Alexander (Rochester, Minn.) was tied for 67th with a score of 229.

Barton's Nick Nosewicz captured the individual crown with a score of 205 that put him three strokes ahead of Arnold and two others. Nosewicz opened the tournament with a five-under-par 67 before shooting 70 and 68 the rest of the way.

Villanova is back in action this weekend at the Navy Spring Invitational.