Posted: Sep 17, 2012
LITITZ, Pa. - The Penn State Harrisburg golf team has gotten off to a tremendous start this fall. Last year, the team that eventually won its second straight North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) championship as well as earned its second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament started the season with a fifth place finish at Messiah's Falcon Invitational and a tenth place finish at the Franklin & Marshall Invitational. The 2012 version has set the bar even higher with a third place finish at Messiah's outing last week and now nabbing a share of the runner-up position at F&M's tournament on Monday, Sep. 17.
Two of the biggest reasons for the blue and white's early season success are reigning NEAC Player of the Year Matt Plummer (Mechanicsburg, Pa. / Cumberland Valley) and newcomer Jason Long (Rockhill Furnace, Pa. /Southern Huntingdon County), both of whom shot 73s (+2) at the Bent Creek Country Club on Monday to help lead the Lions to a fantastic finish. Their stout scores were good enough to earn them a share of sixth place overall, just three shots back of the overall individual champion who finished at -1.
Plummer's day started off strong as he was selected as the NEAC's Golf Student-Athlete of the Week due to his second place overall finish a week ago.
But it wasn't just the two top finishers for the Lions that helped secure the second place finish. The rest of the team also shot extremely well. Chris Murphy (Harrisburg, Pa. / Susquehanna Township) finished at +5, followed closely by C.J. Foust (Palmyra, Pa. / Palmyra) at +8. Most improved on the week and making a big impact on the overall team score was freshman Matt Rowe (Lebanon, Pa. / Elco), who finished at +12, a 24 stroke improvement from the week before.
Acting Head Coach Rashaan Carlton's post-match comments about his squad's performance hit the nail on the head.
"I was impressed with how the guys played today," he said. "This is a very challenging course and to shoot a 301 as a team is hopefully a sign of more positive things to come this year."
Penn State Harrisburg will look to improve one position and pick up a first place finish when the Lions next hit the links later this week. They are hosting their first invitational of the season this Friday, Sep. 21 and Saturday, Sep. 22 at the Dauphin Highlands Golf Club, the blue and white's home course.