The Villanova men’s golf team struggled early in the first round of the Georgetown Invitational in Leesburg, Va. on Oct. 26 and it cost the ‘Cats in the long run.

The ‘Cats finished last in the rain-shortened 12-team tournament, putting their average finish at 10th in six tournaments, with their average team score at 667. The weather left much to be desired, as rain cancelled the second round of play on Monday, making the Sunday scores final.

Sophomore Henry Watson led the ‘Nova golfers with 3-over-par 75, which was enough to earn him 23rd overall in the individual tournament. Sophomore Jonathan Hewett shot a 7-over 79, good for 49th, while freshman Brock Bergman went into the clubhouse shooting an 80 and tied for 54th place. Senior captain Matt Gugino shot an 82, tied for 61st overall, and rounding out the tournament for ‘Nova was sophomore Colin Mahon, shooting an 83, tying for 63rd.

“We were pretty disappointed as a team. We had high expectations coming into the tournament, but just didn’t get it done,” Gugino said.

The team was without freshman Brian Feeney, junior Charles Nettleton and senior John Keller, who has the team’s only top 10 finish for the season and leads the ‘Cats with a 75.7 scoring average.

Coaches John and Joe Moran and the team look to rebound in the spring, with tournaments at William and Mary, Navy, Princeton, George Washington and Penn State.

“In the spring, hopefully we can have a couple of strong tournaments in order to get into the Big East tournament,” Gugino said. “We have shown that we can play with anyone in the district with our performances at Temple and the Big Five after the first round, and just need to be more consistent as a team.” All in all, the team is hopeful, with things looking up for a strong spring.