Millersville men's golf looks to carry momentum into NCAA Super Regional

Thursday, May 11

Lebanon, PA

Millersville University

NCAA Atlantic/East Region Championships

Millersville men's golf looks to carry momentum into NCAA Super Regional

5/10/2023 8:00:00 AM | Men's Golf

Tournament Central

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

LEBANON, Pa. - The Millersville men's golf team played its way into the NCAA Atlantic/East Super Regional with a strong finish to the season, and as hosts to the event, the Marauders look to familiarity of the course and recent hot play to challenge for one of three berths to the NCAA Division II Championships.

Millersville University is the site host for the Super Regional at Iron Valley Golf Course. It is a 54-hole tournament featuring the top-10 teams from the Atlantic Region, the top-10 teams from the East Region and four top individual performers from each region. Action begins on Thursday, May 11 with tee times ranging from 7:30 a.m.-1:20 p.m. each of the three days. Admission to the event is free.

Millersville is making its first Super Regional appearance since 2019. Before the recent spell of not quality, the Marauders, under Coach Scott Vandegrift, played in seven consecutive Super Regional events. Millersville's best finish in the 20-team format is a fifth-place finish in 2013. Before the shift to the Super Regional, Vandegrift's 2003 club won the East Region Championships in 2003 and advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships as a team for the only time in program history.

The Marauders are ultra-familiar with Iron Valley Golf Course having already played five rounds on the par 72 track this season, and the team has had some success in those rounds as well. Millersville placed third out of 10 teams at the PSAC Championship in October, shooting a 46-over total. Just two weeks ago, Millersville turned in arguably its most impressive performance of the season by finishing seventh out of 25 teams at the Super Region Preview. The Marauders had spent a month's worth of NCAA regional rankings on the outside looking in at No. 11, but after finishing ahead of Virginia Union, Charleston, West Liberty, West Chester and Fayetteville State, they jumped five spots and securely made the Super Region field as the Atlantic Region's No. 6 seed.

As the sixth seed, Millersville is paired with Virginia Union and Goldey-Beacom in the final groupings Thursday. The Marauders' lineup includes Bobby Lugiano (No. 1), Noah Keener (No. 2), Carl Ernst (No. 3), Christopher Knox (No. 4) and Ty Morral (No. 5). Lugiano played in last season's Super Regional as an individual and placed 34th, missing a berth to the NCAA Championships by just two shots. Lugiano owns an impressive eight top-10 finishes and leads the team with a 74.4 stroke average. Keener tied for top finisher on the team at the Super Region Preview. Knox finished seventh at the PSAC Championship and shot a 1-under-par round on the course. Ernst and Morral have both been in the lineup for all 20 rounds the team has played to date.

Gannon is the No. 1 seed from the Atlantic Region, although IUP won the PSAC Championship by 15 shots. Gannon most recently shot a 20-over-par total at the Super Region Preview, edging East Region No. 1 seed Saint Thomas Aquinas by one.