This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in April 2018.
The Fordham men’s golf team finished in a tie for sixth place at the Albarta Coca-Cola Lehigh Valley Collegiate Invite on Easter Sunday. The event was the first of the spring season for the Rams after a fall season that saw the team win one tournament and finish in the top three in two others.
The event was originally scheduled for Sunday and Monday, but Monday’s snow storm forced all 36 holes of the tournament to be moved up to Sunday.
Leading the way for the Rams over the weekend was senior Matt Schiller, who finished with a 75 and a 72; his 147 finish over two rounds gave him the Rams’ best individual score and tied him for 11th on the Tournament leaderboard. “I was really proud of the way I stayed patient,” Schiller said. “The course was tough because it was coming fresh off a lot of melted snow, so guys caught a lot of bad breaks out there, especially on the greens. I knew that if I stayed in it and even had a sense of humor about the conditions, I would continue to play well.”
The next best player for the Rams on Sunday was junior Josh Madarang, who entered the clubhouse with a 149 after shooting rounds of 74 and 75. The performance of the Chester Springs, Pennsylvania native is particularly promising for Fordham because Madarang was a full two strokes below his 18-hole fall semester average of 76.5. His finish was the other top-20 showing for Fordham on the day, as he tied for 19th among individual players.
Also competing for the Rams on Sunday was senior James Mongey, who finished with a final-round 74 after a 79 in his first 18 holes. Sophomore and Miami native Tomas Nieves shot rounds of 76 and 78, respectively and senior Joseph Trim shot a 155 with rounds of 78 and 77 on Sunday. Finally, freshman Mithran Denbow competed as an individual and had rounds of 77 and 83; those figures did not count towards Fordham’s team figure on the afternoon.
As a team, the Rams came in sixth at the Lehigh Valley Collegiate Invite. The tournament was won by Rhode Island University, who won the event by two strokes over second-place finisher and host school Lehigh. Also playing at the invitational were the following schools, listed in the order in which they finished: Robert Morris University, Connecticut University, Villanova University, College of the Holy Cross, Ottawa University, Binghamton University, Siena College, Bryant University, Monmouth University, Lafayette College, Rider University, Hofstra University and Niagara University.
Next up for the Fordham men’s golf team is the Wildcat Invitational April 9-10 in Malvern, Pennsylvania; the event will be hosted by Villanova. After that, the team travels to New Haven, Connecticut to take part in the Yale Invitational on April 14. The Rams last played on the course at Yale in October, when they finished 12th out of 14 teams at the MacDonald Invitational on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 of 2017. After that, Fordham has a quick turnaround and takes part in the Rhode Island Invitational on April 16-17. With all that, the Rams are set to play 90 holes of golf in just four days. Fordham finished third in the Rhode Island Invitational a season ago.
“Our mental toughness drives how far we can go as a team,” Schiller said. “We all hit great shots, we can all make putts and we all can post red numbers on any given day. If we build on the conditions we faced this week and just have that same mentality of grinding through whatever the day throws at us, we’ll be a really tough team to beat the rest of the season.”