DANIELSVILLE, Pa. --- The Moravian College golf team opened up its 2015-16 season by hosting its annual Moravian Fall Invitational at Woodstone Country Club Monday afternoon with the Hounds finishing second of 18 teams on a tiebreaker.
The Greyhounds fired a team score of 305, which tied Muhlenberg College for the best four-man score, but had a higher score on the fifth card turned in by the team 81 to 83 as the Mules captured the team title. Moravian's Blue team was tied for 13th with a 345.
Individually for the Greyhounds, sophomore Kevin Kunkle was tied for second among the 89 golfers with a two-over par round of 74 on the hilly Woodstone course. Kunkle had a pair of birdies and 13 pars during his round on Monday. Sophomore Tyler Smith was tied for fourth with a 75 for his season-opening round which included one birdie and 14 pars.
Junior Dan Leppert was tied for ninth with a round of 77 while senior Jim Maru was tied for 18th with a 79. Senior Evan Dickinson rounded out the Hounds' line-up with an 83.
Junior Anthony Beltrami led the Blue team with a round of 75 to tie for fourth overall in his first outing with the Greyhounds while freshman Kody Long carded an 87. Freshman Joe Rochelle added an 88 while junior James Lobb had a 95 for the Greyhounds.
"Overall, I thought the guys played really well today," commented Head Coach Kevin Edwards. "305 is a solid team score and I would be happy with that originally. A couple of guys were a little higher than I expected with Jim struggling coming in a little bit. He usually shoots in the mid-70s so that might have cost us a little bit.
"But there were a lot of bright spots. After bad starts, Kevin came in strong and was just two over par. Dan had a really rough start and came in with a 77 and Tyler hung in there," continued Edwards. "On the B team, Sony Beltrami our transfer was a real nice surprise for us that I wasn't expecting heading into the season. I think he is going to add to our depth as we get ready for the first half of the conference championships this weekend and help us challenge St. John Fisher."
Moravian will return to action on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20 at the first two rounds of the 2015-16 Empire 8 Conference Championships that will be played at Timber Banks Country Club in Baldwinsville, New York.
