UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's golf team opens spring competition this weekend as it heads to Hershey, Pennsylvania for the Hershey Invitational on Sunday, April 3rd and Monday, April 4th. The 36 hole tournament will be held on the East Course at Hershey Country Club.
Follow Along: Live scoring will be active for the weekend on GolfStat, and will be located at https://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=23858.
The Lineup: Utica will bring five veteran players to this weekend's tournament, with Joe Miga (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame), Nick Visconti (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls), Adam Woodmansee (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore), Brett Everson (Mississauga, Ontario/Hawkesbury (CCHL)), and Blake Holmes (Apple Valley, MN/Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)) set to tee it up. Miga, Visconti, and Woodmansee have all received All-Conference honors in the past.
He'll Be Missed: The Pioneers return a strong core for the Spring season as they make a run at a second straight NCAA Championships appearance, but they will be without the services of Empire 8 Champion Josh Kienz (Newburgh, NY/Valley Central), who completed his graduate level coursework and graduated in December. He was the first individual E8 champion in program history while leading the squad to top honors in the 2019 Empire 8 Fall Championship, and the 2021 Empire 8 Spring Championship. He was also the E8 championship co-leader after the Fall 2021 portion of this year's conference championships.
Scouting the Course: The Hershey Country Club will play host to the 2022 Empire 8 Spring Championships. The club, which opened up in 1930, actually has two courses: The East course, which is a 7,061 foot course, has a par of 71, and the West course, which is 6,860 feet, has a par of 73. The club also played host to the PGA Championship in 1940.
The Last Time They Came Here: This will be Utica's first trip to Hershey since the team placed fourth in the 2019 Empire 8 Spring Championship. Assistant coach Patrick Coughlin (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) posted a four round total of 307 and was named to the Empire 8 All-Conference First Team for his fifth place finish in the individual competition. Joe Miga's (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) stellar Sunday round of 73 propelled him to a four round total of 313 and an All-Conference Second Team nod.
Top Golf: Through two rounds of the Empire 8 championship, the Pioneers sit in second place with 629 strokes, with Kienz posting a two-day total of 154 to establish a co-lead that he will not be defending this Spring. Among returners for the team, Adam Woodmansee (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore) had the best score over the first 36 holes with a two-day count of 156 strokes. That included the best round of the tournament for any Pioneer, a second round of 76. He is fourth overall in the championship. Nick Visconti (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) was second among returners and third among all Pioneer scorers with a 36 hole total of 158. Joe Miga (Clinton, NY/Notre Dame) is in eighth overall for the championship with a total of 161 strokes.
What's Next: The Pioneers head to Saratoga Springs for the Tim Brown Invitational on April 9th and 10th.
