Sept. 14, 2008

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - All four of the team's counting scores were between 71 and 74 and Villanova cut eight strokes off of its first round score in a strong showing on the second day of the Rutgers Invitational on Saturday at the Rutgers University Golf Course. The Wildcats finished their first tournament of the season in 11th place out of 24 teams.

Villanova posted scores of 299-291=590 over two days and was just nine strokes away from finishing as high as eighth place. After battling steady rain in Friday's opening round the team regrouped in better conditions on Saturday. The round of 291 matched the team's best score since coming in one stroke lower in the final round of the Bradford Creek Intercollegiate on April 3, 2007.

Freshman Brendan Kelly enjoyed a strong collegiate debut for the Wildcats and finished in a tie for 17th place out of 125 golfers in the individual standings. Kelly accounted for the team's lone round at par for the weekend with a score of 71 on Saturday. He finished at 72-71=143 (+1) and was just six strokes off the winning pace set by a golfer from Towson.

This weekend's tournament was also the Villanova debut for head coach Will Reilly, who is beginning his first season with the program. The outlook for Reilly and his team appears bright with the play of Kelly and sophomores Conor Casey and Colin List, who finished second and third, respectively on the team at Rutgers.

Casey posted scores of 72-73=145 and was tied for 26th place overall, while List rebounded from a 78 in the opening round to card a 73 on Saturday and finish tied for 64th at 78-73=151. Senior Brett Bergman finished tied for 70th (78-74=152) and classmate Doug Stadler was tied for 79th (77-76=153).

Among the statistical highlights for the Wildcats included List tying for the tournament lead with an aggregate score of five-under par on the course's four par-5 holes. He averaged a score of 4.38 on the par-5's to tie with three other players and was also one of 11 individuals to have an eagle during the weekend. Kelly and Casey each tied for fifth overall with eight birdies in the tournament and Kelly was tied for sixth with an even-par scoring average of 3.00 on the course's five par-3 holes.

As a team, Villanova was tied for fourth with Binghamton in par-5 scoring with an average of 4.88. The team was also tied for sixth with 27 birdies and List's eagle made the Wildcats one of nine teams with one in the tournament.

Seton Hall came from seven strokes back to win the team championship by one stroke over defending champion South Carolina-Upstate. The Pirates round of 279 (-5) on Saturday was three strokes better than Binghamton, which finished two strokes off the pace in third.

Towson's Chris Scialo carded rounds of 68-69=137 (-5) and won individual medalist honors, finishing two strokes ahead of Baxter Culler (South Carolina-Upstate) and Mike Corbo (Binghamton).