Millersville men's golf seeking contention at PSAC Championship

Friday, October 20

Lebanon, PA

Millersville University

PSAC Championship

Millersville men's golf seeking contention at PSAC Championship

10/18/2023 12:58:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Dates: Friday, Oct. 20-Sunday, Oct. 22 (54 holes)
Location: Iron Valley Golf Club, Lebanon, Pa.
2022 Champions: IUP (880, +16)/Guillermo Salazar, IUP (+1)
Millersville's 2022 finish (top finisher): 3rd/10 (Christopher Knox, 7th (+10)
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Coming off back-to-back tournament wins, the Millersville men's golf team competes in the three-round PSAC Championships at Iron Valley Golf Club beginning Friday, Oct. 20. The Marauders finished third last season, and have played outstanding golf in the 2023 fall season, finishing third or better in five of six tournaments. Iron Valley Golf Club is the tournament host for the second season in a row, and Millersville has some history of success at the course, finishing third out of 10 teams at least year's championships as well as taking seventh (second among PSAC teams) in a 25-team field at the 2023 Super Region Preview and seventh out of 20 teams (third among PSAC teams) at the NCAA Atlantic/East Super Regional to close the 2023 spring season.

The course presents a stiff challenge. At least season's NCAA Super Regional, only 14 of 60 rounds were sub-300. Millersville's final round 296 was the fifth-best of the entire tournament. Scores were lower for the 2022 PSAC Championship as IUP shot rounds of 288, 297 and 295 to win by 15 shots over Gannon. Millersville posted scores of 299, 302 and 309.

MILLERSVILLE'S PSAC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

All-time PSAC Championships: 4
Most recent championship: 2013 (593 (+17)), Hershey Links Golf Course
Individual winners: Conor Gilbert (2013), Chris Killiany (2002), Kris Rudy (1999)

Millersville head coach Scott Vandegrift recently won his 74th tournament with the men's program and 101st overall. Four of those wins have come in PSAC Championship events although it has been a decade since the Marauders won the conference championship. Millersville third-place finish in 2022 was a return to the norm after back-to-back seasons of finishing eighth. Millersville has finished third four times since the fall of 2013.

Millersville returns three of its five golfers from last season's championship. Bobby Lugiano tied for 10th at 9-over-par. Ty Morral placed 13th and Carl Ernst tied for 22nd. Morral enjoyed even more success at the same course in the spring at the Super Regional, shooting a 225 and tying for 18th in a field of 108 golfers. Lugiano also shot an 8-over on the course at the Super Region Preview. Lugiano shot a 225 and tied for 13th at the 2021 PSAC Championships. Ernst and Morral are also expected to make their third career starts at the PSAC Championship.

MILLERSVILLE IN 2023
Millersville has shot under 300 in five of 10 rounds and will likely need three-straight rounds like that to contend at Iron Valley. While veterans Ernst, Lugiano and Morral have anchored the lineup, freshmen Timothy Peters and Jake Speers have starred. Speers opened the season with six-straight rounds of 75 or better but has slumped of late. Peters leads the team in scoring average (74.5) and won the Bloomsburg Invitational. He's shot three rounds of par or better and is coming off a 72 at the Bloomsburg Invitational and 1-under-par 71 at the Dickinson Invitational.

Lugiano opened the season with a team-best seventh-place finish at the Vulcan Invitational but hit a rough patch with four of five rounds finishing at 77 or higher. He bounced back nicely at the Oct. 14 Dickinson Invitational, shooting a 2-under-par 70. Ernst is playing the best golf of his career with a 74.6 scoring average. He's capable of low scores, posting a 72 at Hershey Country Club East in the Elizabethtown Invitational, a 1-under-par 71 on day two of the Bud Elwell Classic and a career-low 4-under 68 on Oct. 14 at Carlisle Barracks Golf Course where he tied for first. Morral has been a steady performer, posting four top-25 finishes.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
To have a shot at winning the individual title, history says golfers need to within five shots of par as 16 of the last 18 winners have shot 5-over or better. Three of the last five winners have shot under-par to win. IUP has won four consecutive team titles as well as six of the last seven. IUP has also produced three of the last four medalists.

Results from the fall season place Gannon as the team favorite. Gannon won the 54-hole Vulcan Invitational to start the season and has taken first in four of the five tournaments it has entered. Mercyhurst, Cal U and Pitt-Johnstown finished ahead of Millersville at the Mercyhurst Invitational. Pitt-Johnstown also took second at the Vulcan Invitational.