STATESBORO, Ga. – Following a tightly contested first round, the FGCU men's golf team sits tied for 10^th on the leaderboard at the 42^nd Schenkel Invitational at the Forest Heights Country Club. The Eagles shot 288 on the day as 11 teams are separated between second and 12^th by just five strokes.
 
Frankie Capan III is tied for 11^th after going two under par with a 70 on the day followed by Austin Cherichella who is tied for 23^rd (71) and Pierre Viallaneix who is tied for 28^th (72).
 
"It was a tough day with the conditions at the end of the round but I'm very proud of our team's continued effort. They played the last three holes well as a team," said head coach Andrew Danna. "When we came off the course at the end of the round, we saw our women's basketball team had won their first round game in the NCAA tournament. That was awesome news after a long day! Congrats…survive & advance!!!"
 
FGCU finished the opening round with 19 birdies just behind Notre Dame which had 23 on the day. Capan had six, while Viallaneix had five.
 
Host Georgia Southern led the field after shooting 273 on the day. Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Cincinnati were all tied for second (283).
 
The Eagles will open the second round tomorrow morning at 9 AM starting on hole No. 10 with live scoring available on www.GolfStat.com.
 
42^nd Schenkel Invitational hosted by Georgia Southern
Forest Heights Country Club – Par 72 – 7,123 yards
 
FGCU Lineup:
T11 – Frankie Capan III - 70
T23 – Austin Cherichella - 71
T28 – Pierre Viallaneix - 72
T58 – Lucas Fallotico - 75
T58 – Brady Madsen - 75
 
Tournament Field:
1 - #59 Georgia Southern - 273
T2 - #17 Notre Dame - 283
T2 - #50 West Virginia - 283
T2 - #72 Cincinnati - 283
T5 - #96 Furman - 285
T5 - #62 College of Charleston - 285
T7 - #63 Virginia Tech - 286
T7 - #73 Kentucky - 286
9 - #122 Campbell - 287
T10 - #47 FGCU - 288
T10 - #39 UAB - 288
T10 - #83 Middle Tennessee State - 288
13 - #89 Iowa - 290
14 - #97 Wisconsin - 295
15 - #191 Army - 303
 
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HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA:
Danna is in his third year at the helm of the FGCU men's golf program after leading the Eagles to a second-place finish at the 2021 ASUN Championship and being named the program's first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year. One of the best turnarounds in NCAA history saw the Green and Blue, led by Van Holmgren who became the first player to earn PING All-Region honors, jump from No. 257 in the final 2019-20 GolfStat.com rankings to a then program-best 65 to close out 2020-21. The Eagles set a new program-best during the 2022 season at No. 47 in the GolfStat.com rankings. Holmgren won the ASUN Championship individual title to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. Before taking over in Fort Myers, he served the 2018-19 season as the assistant at LSU. Prior to that he was the ultra-successful head coach for six years at Lynn University where he led them to the 2018 NCAA Division II national championship and was, subsequently, chosen the David Williams National Coach of the Year. He also led the Fighting Knights to three national runner-up placements, with a third and eighth place finish in his other two seasons.
  
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ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 90 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 10 seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 44 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 25 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2021) each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
 
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