Aug. 26, 2008

The Sacred Heart men's golf team, the 2008 Northeast Conference Champions, will open the 2008 fall season at the Rutgers Invitational announced by head coach Ed Connolly. The Pioneers have a wealth of talent back led by NEC Golfer of the Year Patrick Fillian (Tinton Falls, NJ) as they embark on a competitive fall to prepare for a title defense next spring.

"We have put together a challenging, competitive five tournament schedule for the fall," stated Connolly. "We have a tremendous group of student-athletes coming back, hungry to get to work and defend our NEC title."

The Rutgers Invitational is slated for two rounds on September 12th and 13th at the Scarlet Knight Golf Course in Piscataway, New Jersey. The Rutgers tournament is the first of five tournaments the Pioneers will play this fall, encompassing 234 holes of golf.

For the second consecutive year the Pioneers will travel to Bethpage, New York for The McLaughlin hosted by St. John's University. The Pioneers will play 54 holes over two days at the Red Course at Bethpage State Park on September 19th and 20th. Sacred Heart will once again play in the Yale University Macdonald Cup on October 4th and 5th at the Yale Golf Course in New Haven. The event is a 54-hole tournament.

The fall slate will wrap up with a pair of major tournaments in the ECAC Championship and the 74th NEIGA Championship. This year's ECAC tournament is scheduled for October 10th and 11th at the Long Island National Golf Course in Riverhead, New York. Players will play 36 holes on Friday and 18 holes on Saturday. The New England Intercollegiate Golf Association Championship wraps-up the fall on October 20th and 21st, once again at the Captains Golf Course in Brewster, Massachusetts.

Fillian, who earned PING All-Region honors for the second-straight year, is back for his senior campaign and will be joined by fellow seniors Matt Belizze (North Salem, NY) and Kevin Lauretti (Newington, CT) and junior standout Adam Petrasovic (Tecumseh, Ontario).

After a stellar junior season, Fillian turned in a top-notch performance at the NCAA Central Regional at Ohio State, finishing tied for 20th overall in a field of 141 golfers. The NEC Golfer of the Year carded a three round score of 224 (76-71-77) in his first career appearance at the event. Fillian was a two-time NEC Golfer of the Week honoree and averaged a 74.0 (+3) per round last season on his way to winning the league's top-golfer of the year award. On the season, he fired 25-of-27 sub 80 rounds on his way to six top-10 finishes.

Petrasovic had two top-fives, three top-10 and five top-20 finishes last season and matched Fillian for the season-low round by firing a 68 during day two of the Pioneers record low round at the NEC Championships. He claimed All-NEC honors by finishing seventh at the event. His top finish of the year came at the ECAC Championship in the fall where he took third with a two day score of 146 (72-74). Belizze had four top-20 finishes to his credit with his best finish coming at the New England Championship where he tied for 10th with a 149 (74-75).

Added to the mix is incoming freshman Leopoldo Garcia (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico), who comes to Sacred Heart fresh off his third-straight Puerto Rico Junior Island Championship this summer.