BRADFORD, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's golf team will begin its 2017 season hosting 15 teams for the Pitt-Bradford Invitational at Pine Acres Country Club on Saturday.
Among the teams competing will be all eight other Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference golf programs: Penn State-Behrend, La Roche, Pitt-Greensburg, Penn State-Altoona, Hilbert, Medaille, D'Youville and Mt. Aloysius.
Also competing will be Thiel, Westminster, Elmira, Hobart, Penn State-Fayette, Kent State-Tuscarawas and Grove City.
This year's competition will be the 14th consecutive Pitt-Bradford Invitational, and the 10th straight season the Panthers' will start their season at their home course.
"This tournament is great for us for many reasons, but particularly because we get to start our season competing against the whole AMCC," 16th-year Head Coach Keith Stauffer said. "It serves as a barometer for where we stand in our conference at the very start of the season."
Returning for the Panthers are 2016 All-AMCC honorees, sophomore Matt Moonan and senior Brett Gardner.
A native of Bradford, Moonan ranked second in the AMCC with two wins this fall while posting five top-10 finishes in his freshman campaign. He placed sixth at the AMCC Championships, the best showing among all freshmen. In last year's Pitt-Bradford Invitational, he fired a 74 to finish in a three-way tie for first in his hometown event.
Gardner put together one of the best individual rounds on the final day of the AMCC Championships, jumping 11 spots from the first day to finish tied for fourth overall. In 2016, he registered a pair of top-10 finishes to start the season, tying for seventh at the Pitt-Bradford Invitational and ninth at Medaille.
Also returning are seniors Shayne Kraynyk and Aaron Vansickles along with sophomores Jamie Rook and Sam Marchini. A talented freshman -- Cary Ignaczak -- rounds out the squad.
