LAFAYETTE HILL, Pa. –Longwood men's golf battled the elements yesterday to earn the second seed going into match play in the Dragon Match Play Invitational today, and the team finished second.
 
The Lancers used a big rally to edge Drexel, who hosted the event, in the semifinal round in a matchup that went down to the wire.
 
However, they ran out of gas in the championship round against the top seed, Rhode Island.
 
NOTABLE RESULTS:
 
In the semifinals, the final score of Longwood 3.5, Drexel 1.5 doesn't tell the complete story.
 
The team trailed 1-0 after John Keba won 3&1 against David LaFreniere, although LaFreniere charged hard late to close the gap.
 
Scott Jordan tied the match, winning 2&1, but he erased a two-hole deficit in the final seven holes that he played. He took the lead with a par on the Par 3 15^th, and he stretched his advantage with another par on the Par 4 16^th one hole later.
 
Hunter Swidzinski, meanwhile, had the cleanest round to win 3&2. He took the lead on the first hole and never relented to give Longwood a 2-1 lead.
 
Justin LaRue clinched it on the final hole to cap a thrilling rally for the Lancer ace against Drexel's ace, Drue Nicholas. Down four after eight holes, he won back-to-back-to-back holes on nine, 10 and 11 to cut the lead to one. After tying it on the 14^th, he made par on the 18^th hole to win 1UP.
 
In the championship round, Rhode Island jumped out to early leads, as Luke Stennett (4&3) and Tyler Bruneau (6&5) topped Jordan and Swidzinski.
 
LaFreniere led for most of his match before clinching on the 17^th hole to win 2&1 to cut the Rhode Island lead to 2-1, but Aidain O'Donovan clinched the result for Rhode Island with a 5&4 win over Nick Fleming.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"It seemed like the match against Drexel took a lot out of us," said Longwood Head Coach Kevin Fillman. "Between having to make comebacks in almost every match and heavy winds beating on us all day, we didn't have much left to give against Rhode Island. That's why it's important to have the no. 1 seed and to play in that first semifinal. They got to take an hour or longer break in between matches, and we had to stay out in the winds and go play again immediately. As they should, they played some great golf and definitely took advantage of the circumstances."
 
"Nonetheless, this was a great experience for us," Fillman added. "We got to play in some really nasty conditions with an extremely difficult setup and got a little match-play experience to boot. Hopefully we can draw on what we went through to help us sometime in the future."
 
FULL RESULTS:
 
Semifinals
Longwood 3.5, Drexel 1.5
Drexel John Keba over LWU David LaFreniere 2&1
LWU Scott Jordan over Drexel Griffin Mitchell 2&1
LWU Hunter Swidzinski over Drexel Kevin Lydon 3&2
LWU Justin LaRue over Drexel Drue Nicholas 1UP
LWU Nick Fleming vs. Drexel Caleb Taylor
 
Finals
Rhode Island 3.5, Longwood 1.5
URI Luke Stennett over LWU Scott Jordan 4&3
URI Tyler Bruneau over LWU Hunter Swidzinski 6&5
LWU David LaFreniere over URI Sean Magarian 2&1
URI Aidan O'Donovan over LWU Nick Fleming 5&4
URI Josiah Tong over LWU Justin LaRue
 
UP NEXT:
 
Longwood plays its final match of the regular season when it travels to the Rutherford Intercollegiate on Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13. The event is hosted by Penn State at the Penn State Golf Course in State College, Pennsylvania.
 
#GoWood #HorsePower