PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The No. 60 FGCU men's golf team posted a top 25 victory over No. 17 Alabama to finish third Monday at The Hayt.
As the dust settled, FGCU's final-round 288 lifted the Green & Blue one stroke ahead of the Crimson Tide. The Eagles also finished 18 strokes better than No. 39 Arkansas. FGCU entered Monday's final round fifth on the team leaderboard.
"We got off to a good start today which was great to see," said FGCU head men's golf coach Andrew Danna. "The team was able to hang in there and finish off the round as well. We are looking forward to our next opportunity to compete at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville next weekend."
Junior Austin Cherichella (Orlando, Fla./Lake Nona HS) finished third on the individual leaderboard, just behind the No. 1 and No. 10 overall Golfstat ranked player. Cherichella fired his fifth consecutive under-par round Monday to finish 7-under for the event.
No. 2 Vanderbilt ran away with the two-day tournament, finishing a combined 28-under par. The Commodores' Gordon Sargent won the individual title at 15-under.
Freshman Sam Baker (Cloquet, Minn/Cloquet HS) tied for 18th after carding back-to-back under par rounds, 71 and 70. Teammate senior Pierre Viallaneix (Apopka, Fla./Winter Park HS/Western Carolina) placed ahead of three top 100 ranked golfers, tying for 21st.
Despite ranking 12 out of the 15 competing teams in made pars, FGCU tied for fourth overall made birdies with 53. FGCU's combined par-5 scoring ranked second best among the tournament field, trailing only No. 2 Vanderbilt.
The Green & Blue will return to action Feb. 11-12 to compete in the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational, hosted by the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
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FGCU STARTING FIVE:
3 Austin Cherichella 71-69-69 | 209 | -7
T18 Sam Baker 76-71-70 | 217 | +1
T21 Pierre Viallaneix 75-70-73 | 218 | +2
T50 Jon Hopkins 79-70-76 | 225 | +9
T77 Lucas Fallotico 79-80-83 | 242 | +26
*Individual
T70 Thomas Salanito 78-80-74 | 232 | +16
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
HEAD COACH ANDREW DANNA
Danna is in his fourth year at the helm of the men's golf program with the Eagles earning FGCU's first-ever NCAA Tournament at-large berth in department history during the 2022 season. He has led the Eagles to second-place finishes at the 2021 and 2022 ASUN Championships and was named the program's first-ever ASUN Coach of the Year (2021) and repeated in 2022. 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.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & 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 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. 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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