SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – On Sunday, the Endicott men's golf team won their third straight CCC Championship and fifth since the 2006 season but today's victory had further meaning as the Gulls captured the league's first-ever automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament which will be held from May 13th-16th at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Endicott trailed by seven strokes after day one of the CCC Tournament at the par-71, 6,213-yard Franconia Golf Course, but on day two the Blue and Green finished seven strokes better than the day one leader Western New England. Both schools had a two-day score of 600 which resulted in using tiebreaker rules to decide the 2014 champion. Based on Endicott's fifth team member on day two coming in one stroke better than his Western New England counterpart, Endicott was named 2014 CCC Champions.
Gulls sophomore Austin Teal (Loudonville, N.Y.) hit a +6, 78 on day two of the tournament, one stroke better than two Golden Bears golfers, Joe DaSilva (Watertown, Conn.) and Nicholas Shemkovitz (Meriden, Conn.), who both turned in 79s on Sunday. DaSilva had led all players after his day one score of 70 (-1).
Endicott senior Zach Golojuch (Saco, Maine) had the best two-day score for the Gulls (72-75) but it was senior Nick Erlichman (Shrewsbury, Mass.) who rebounded from a rough day to shoot even par 71 on day two to fuel the team's comeback. Sophomore Alex Viola (Brunswick, Maine) turned in two identical scores of 76 for the second-best two-day score for Endicott while junior Jake Rand (Winthrop, Mass.) finished with scores of 78 on day one and 76 on day two.
Erlichman and Rand each had critical birdies late in the final round. Erlichman birdied the par-4, 403-yard 18th, one of his six on the day including four straight from the 8th through 11th holes. Rand birdied the par-3 17th as the final moments of the championship provided a lot of drama on the course.
Endicott has won the CCC Championship five times in the program's history including three straight times in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The Gulls also won in 2009 and in 2006, their first conference title.
