BY: AIDAN SHINNERS; STAFF WRITER
Photo Courtesy of gobonnies.com
From winning the Little Three Championship to finishing 19th out of 20 in the Ross Collegiate Classic the road to the Atlantic 10 Championships has been nothing short of rocky.
Freshman Braddock Damore said that the team has shown they have the potential to place better than they have throughout the season.
“We had bright spots in Virginia as we were in second place,” Damore said. “We struggled to keep pace for the entire tournament.”
Damore added that if the team can learn to carry momentum, there will be some great finishes ahead of them.
On April 7-8, the Bonnies traveled to Drexel University for match play at the Green Valley Country Club. Damore said that this event would be an important one as the team is closing in on the A-10 Championships.
“I think we can use this to get some good momentum going,” said Damore. “We need to be at our best for A-10s.”
While Damore had never played the course before, he had confidence in the team because of the Bonnies’ past performances at the Country Club. Last season, the Bonnies finished third out of eight at Drexel.
Day one of the event in Drexel is a tournament between the eight invited teams. The field included three A-10 rivals for the Bonnies: Rhode Island, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s.
Junior Michael Bucko and freshman Andrew Murray finished with the highest individual scores for Bonaventure at six over par. This placed them in a tie for 15th in the individual standings on day one.
Other notable scores for the Bonnies on day one included Braddock Damore shooting two over in round one but finishing the day 12 over. Graduate student Peter Byren shot a team third, scoring 10 over on day one.
The Bonnies stood in a tie for sixth place with Drexel University’s B-team in the event at the conclusion of team play. The A-10’s Rhode Island emerged as the winner of the team play portion, scoring six over par.
On day two, Bonaventure took on Drexel University’s B-team in match play. Junior Gabe Williams knocked off his opponent by four holes.
While the Bonnies lost their consolation matchup against Drexel B, they have one final opportunity to gain momentum ahead of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
Bonaventure heads to Penn State to compete in the Rutherford Invitational on April 12-13. This will be their final opportunity to tune up before the A-10 Championship tournament April 22-24 at the Evermore Resort in Orlando, Fla.
