New Haven, Conn. – Fresh off a third-place finish at the Mitchell Invitational, the Albertus Magnus College men's golf team is set to compete in the 2015 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Fall Championship this weekend, October 17-18. The nine-team, 36-hole event will be hosted UMass Dartmouth and contested at the 6,764-yard, par-72 Allendale Country Club.
The Falcons, under the direction of Head Coach Ryan Quinn (1st season), will look to surprise in their first-ever outing in the conference tournament, after landing in 9th-place in the pre-championship coaches poll.
"I'm excited about all the work the team has put in this season," Quinn said. "It's starting to show in there scores."
Albertus Magnus is led by junior Aaron Macchia (Utica, N.Y.). The third-year ball-striker has been the team's low scorer in each of their outings this fall. He is coming off back-to-back second-place finishes. Macchia's strongest performance of the autumn came at the Westfield State Invitational where he lost a playoff to finish in solo second in the 47-player field. At the event, his one-day score of 73 (two-over par) set a new program scoring record and his finish was the best in the young history of the men's golf team.
Sophomore Zach Schatz (East Haven, Conn.), junior Tyler Donnan (Meriden, Conn.) and senior Anthony Pellegrino (Branford, Conn.) are other threats to go low for the Falcons. Schatz had arguably his strongest 18-hole showing of the season at Mitchell, carding an 89 thanks to a team-best two birdies and two pars on the day. The two birdies were a career-high for the southpaw and were the second-highest total in the field. Pellegrino finished 10th at Mitchell with a 94. The 6-0 righty registered four pars throughout the round and tied for fifth in the field in par-5 scoring (two-over par), while Donnan was one-shot off Pellegrino's pace with a 95 in the event. Like Pellegrino, he also carded a quartet of pars last time out.
Other contributors for the team this year have been junior Tom Moore (East Haven, Conn.) and freshman Elijah Thomas (New Haven, Conn.). Both players are left-handed and have shown vast improvement on the links since the beginning of the season.
The Falcons tee off for the opening round on Saturday, October 17, beginning at 11:40 am with Emmanuel and Worcester State.
