BERLIN, MD – Louie Giovacchini (Windermere, FL/Windermere), Austin Devereux (Brielle, NJ/Manasquan) and Jack Urban (Upper St. Clair, PA/Upper St. Clair) each shot one-over 73's in extremely windy conditions as the Rider University men's golf team shot six-over 294 and stands second of 22 teams after the opening round at the Battle at Rum Pointe, hosted by Iona at Pointe Seaside Links.  

The trio of Broncs sit tied for 10^th following the opening round, while Connor Bekefi (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) shot three-over 75 to finish tied for 27th and Rick van der Nat (Noordwijk, The Netherlands/Visser 't Hooft) shot four-over 76 to tie for 44th of 120 competitors.

Urban had a team-best five birdies on his round, all in his final 10 holds played and all on the front nine after he started on the 11^th hole. He shot three bogeys, but a triple on the Par 3 14^th kept him from shooting par or better. Both Devereux and Giovacchini finished with three birdies and four bogeys to card their one-over 73's.

QUOTES & NOTES
"We played really solid. Conditions were absolutely brutal. Wind was crazy. We threw away some shots at the end. It easily could've been 5-6 strokes lower. But we are playing very solid. Tomorrow will be even nastier and we're looking forward to it." – Rider Head Coach Jason Barry

- Rhode Island (285, -3) leads the team scoring, nine strokes ahead of the Broncs (294, +6). Bucknell (296, +8) is a stroke back of the Broncs in third, while Fairfield (297, +9) and Colgate (297, +9) round out the top five.
- Eight of nine MAAC men's golf teams are in competition, with the Broncs being the top finisher after the first round. Fairfield (297, +9), Monmouth (303, +15), Iona (304, +16), Siena (307, +19), Iona (311, +23), Saint Peter's (312, +24) and Manhattan (320, +32) rounded out the MAAC field.   
- Cornell's Samuel King leads the individual scoring at 67 (-5), while Fairfield's Jason Salameno (70, -2) was the only MAAC individual golfer to finish higher on the leaderboard than the Broncs' trio at +1.   

UP NEXT
The Broncs wrap up play tomorrow with 18 holes at the Battle at Rum Pointe from Pointe Seaside Links in Berlin, MD.