The Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets men’s golf team was in action this past Monday, as they traveled to the Wildwood Golf Club in Allison Park, PA to compete in the La Roche College invitational where they finished seventh out of fifteen teams.

“I thought we played pretty good as a group,” said Head Coach Mike Cipoletti. “We had a few bad breaks but if we would’ve cleaned those up, I think we would’ve finished in the top three,”.

The Jackets altogether carded a 337 that led to their seventh-place finish which was led by sophomore Matthew Karpeal, who tied for fourth place with a six-over score of 78.

“This felt like one of my best tournaments yet even though I didn’t place as high as I wanted to. I played well and felt as if I had a chance to score the whole day. I’m proud of the team they really stepped it up, especially Mike and Tyler. They played great and hopefully that translates into the whole team,” Karpeal said.

The Jackets were also led by freshman Michael Clark, who tied for eleventh place with an eleven-over 83, and senior Tyler Townsend who tied for fourteenth with his career-best 86.

“I felt like a few things led to our success on Monday. Personally, a combination of good course preparation and being able to recover after bad shots is what leads to a good round,”  Townsend said.

After playing baseball for his first three years at Waynesburg, this is Townsend’s first year playing golf at the collegiate level. As Cipoletti stated, “He can only get better so I’ll take that out of him every time,”.

The Jackets also had sophomore Hudson Pincavitch post a score of 90, which Cipoletti stated that, “His score didn’t reflect how well he played,” and junior Gage Fuller post a score of 95. 

“I was real happy with the way Townsend played, he’s gotten better. I was also always pleased with Karpeal’s 78. If you take away the two bad holes he had, instead of being tied for fourth he’s in second place. Overall, I am very happy with how everyone played,” said Cipoletti.

The Jackets also had Karpeal and Clark make the PAC honor roll and the newcomer honor roll respectively

The Jackets are currently sit third in the PAC rankings, with Westminster College and Geneva College holding down the first and second spots in the rankings respectively.

The next time the Jackets will be in action is Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Greene County Country Club to take on Hiram College, with the Westminster College Invitational following that on Oct. 9,  where Cipoletti said will be a “preview” of the PAC Championships. The PAC Championships take place on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17.