This story originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in October 2017.
The Fordham men’s golf team completed the fall portion of their season by finishing third at the Lehigh Invitational this past Friday and Saturday in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Rams finished near the top of the leaderboard in a tournament that also included Bucknell University, Colgate University, Fairfield University, Hofstra University, Iona College, Lafayette University, Lehigh University, Monmouth University, Rider University, Siena College and St. John’s University.
Leading the way for the Rams were seniors Matt Schiller and Joseph Trim, who shot 144 and 145, respectively, over both rounds of the tournament. Schiller’s rounds were 73 and 71 while Trim responded to an opening-round 76 with a three-under 69 in Saturday’s final round.
“The first round was a little disappointing because I expected more from myself, but as a whole, I was happy with how I bounced back. I hit the ball extremely solid and made a decent amount of putts,” Trim said. The Tampa, Florida native’s second round was tied for the lowest round at the Saucon Valley course on Saturday. Regarding the course, Trim added, “I absolutely love Saucon Valley. It is my favorite course that we play all season and I have good memories from winning the individual tournament last season.”
Besides Schiller and Trim, Pennsylvania native Josh Madarang completed play with rounds of 79 and 75 to finish at ten-over after 36 holes. Sophomore Tomas Nieves competed individually and shot an 83 on Friday but shot a 76 upon entering the team competition on Saturday. Senior James Mongey shot two rounds of 80, with the second one coming as an individual.
Fordham found itself in eighth place on the 12-team leaderboard after the completion of play on Saturday. Instead of sliding even further down the leaderboard, however, the Rams responded with the second-best team round on Saturday. The team finished a combined three-over-par, which allowed them to bypass Hofstra, Rider, St. John’s, Iona, Monmouth and Siena on the leaderboard in just 18 holes. Lehigh defended their home turf and finished in first by 16 strokes over Bucknell University.
This is the final tournament on the Rams’ fall schedule, as the team’s season will resume in March after a five-month respite. The aforementioned Trim believes the break can be beneficial to the team.
“The next couple months will be mostly rest while we stay in the gym and get ready for next semester,” Trim said. “We will look back on the fall season, assess what we did well and what we struggled with so we can perform at our highest abilities in the spring.” Trim also believes that the winter recess is coming at just the right time for a Rams team that has played virtually non-stop since the beginning of September: “Playing six tournaments over the last seven weeks, it is easy to get a little burned out. I think we were successful in keeping the fire alive though, ending the fall campaign with two top-three finishes.”
The Rams will look to pick up right where they left off when the spring rolls around. f they can replicate their performance from this past weekend in March, they should be in good shape.