UTICA, NY - The Utica University men's golf team starts the pursuit of a second Empire 8 title in three years this weekend as they contest the Empire 8 Fall Championship on Saturday and Sunday. This 36 hole portion of the larger 72 hole championship will be played at the Timber Banks Golf Club in Baldwinsville, NY.

Follow Along: The Empire 8 Conference will have Golfstat Live Scoring enabled, and it will be located at https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=26968.

The Format: The E8 Men's Golf Championship is a 72 hole event contested in two 36 hole blocks. The final two rounds are scheduled for April 2023 at Hershey Country Club in Hershey, Pa. The tournament's team champion receives an automatic berth into the 2023 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship, set for May 16-19 at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, KY.

The Lineup: Utica will bring Adam Woodmansee (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore), Neil Roman (), Carter Lathrop (), Nate MacDonald, Kimball Johnson (), and Jack Kendall () to this weekend's championship. 

The Field: Student-athletes from St. John Fisher, SUNY Oswego, Utica, Elmira, Sage, Nazareth, Keuka, and Medaille will contest this weekend's tournament. St. John Fisher is the defending team champion and has eighteen titles overall. St. John Fisher sophomore Bryce Barber is the defending individual champion.

At Last Year's Fall Championship: The defending champion Pioneers put down a 36 hole total of 629 strokes to stand in second place at the conclusion of the 2021 Fall Championship held at Timber Banks Golf Club. Playing his final collegiate rounds, 2020-21 individual champion Josh Kienz (Newburgh, NY/Valley Central) shot a pair of 77s to tie for the 36 hole lead alongside Oswego's Ryan Fecco. Adam Woodmansee (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore) was fourth, and his second round 76 was the best second round in the field. Nick Visconti (Little Falls, NY/Little Falls) was fifth with a two-day total of 158 strokes.  In the spring, they went on to place third with a final 72 hole total of 1,321 strokes.

Last Weekend: The Pioneers placed ninth at the Oswego Fall Invitational with 680 strokes. Adam Woodmansee (Brewerton, NY/Paul V. Moore) was the team's top 36 hole finisher as he earned outright possession of 32nd place with a second round 84, and a two-day total of 167. He was 25 over par for the tournament after a pair of consistent rounds in the tournament. Neil Roman () had the team's best second round with a score of 82, and went on to place 37th overall. 

The Course: Timber Banks is a Par 72 layout that will fly at around 6,739 yards for this year's tournament field. The public course is located along the banks of the Seneca River. It carries a 73.2 rating and a slope of 139. The course was designed by 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus. 

Up Next: The Pioneers are scheduled for a dual match against SUNY Poly on Tuesday, October 4th.