Wildcats Stand in Tie for Ninth Place after Opening Round of Big Five Invitational :: Co-captain Andrew Alexander leads team with a 74 on Saturday

Oct. 14, 2007

FLOURTOWN, Pa. - Led by strong scores from junior co-captains Andrew Alexander (Rochester, Minn.) and Doug Stadler (Wexford, Pa.), Villanova registered a team score of 310 on Saturday in the first round of the Big Five Invitational at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Alexander carded a round of 74 (+3) at the par-71 course, while Stadler came in with a 75 (+4).

The Wildcats are competing this weekend for the Big Five trophy, which is awarded each year to the Big Five team with the highest finish at the annual tournament. After one round of play, the team is tied for ninth place overall but is second among the Big Five schools.

Tournament host Penn is second overall with a team score of 297 to lead the Big Five programs. They are followed by Villanova (310), Saint Joseph's (311), Temple (319) and La Salle (356). The final round of play will be contested with 18 holes played on Sunday.

Individually, Alexander is tied for 11th among 82 players and Stadler is in a tie for 15th place. The pair accounted for the only two scores in the 70's for the Wildcats, who are playing without leading scorer Brett Bergman (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Bergman is missing this weekend's tournament due to an illness.

Freshmen Colin List (Boynton Beach, Fla.) and Conor Casey (Madison, N.J.) recorded the other two counting scores for Villanova. List is tied for 57th place after carding an 80 while Casey finished with a score of 81 and is tied for 63rd place.

Junior Paul Sjoberg (Thief River Falls, Minn.) played his first tournament round of the season and scored an 83 to place in a tie for 69th place.

Seton Hall holds the team lead by five strokes over the Quakers with a current score of 292. John Zur of the Pirates leads all individuals after posting a round of four-under-par 67 on Saturday.

NOTES: Villanova's last Big Five trophy came in 2005, when the team finished fifth overall and first among the local schools at the tournament ... That year Steve Arnold of the Wildcats was the tournament medalist.