Matt Minerva and Jack O’Hara both shot 78 (+8) as Wildcats finished fifth at the City 6 Invitational at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. Villanova shot a team score of 316 in this one-day event. Minerva and O’ Hara were followed by Matt Davis and Luke Alexander, who both shot 80. Danny Dougherty shot 83 and Reb Banas shot 87. Coach James Wilkes mentioned that the conditions weren’t the best.

“It was very chilly, and a little hard to keep warm, but it wasn’t as windy, which definitely was lucky,” he said.

This was the last tournament of the fall for Villanova. It was also another strong outing for Matt Minerva, who has had a strong season so far in his first year. Coach Wilkes is glad to see Minerva showing strong outings in most tournaments.

“It’s great,” he said. “Matt is a great kid, and for him to be put in and consistently help this team perform has been huge this fall.” 

Minerva, a true freshman, has led the team in a lot of the tournaments so far. Minerva finished his round with a couple birdies, along with a good number of pars on his way to a 78. Alexander, O’Hara and Banas each had two birdies of their own as well. Davis had a birdie in his round as well. 

Villanova is on its way into the offseason before they resume competition in the spring. During the off months, adjustments are made to the team’s routine. 

“So instead of working out two times a week, we go three times, so that the guys can get stronger and healthier in the offseason, which should help them once they start the tournaments in the Spring,” he said. “So, we go three days a week until finals, and then we have our break, then we start again afterwards and go until Spring Break. Also, the facility we use at White Manor leaves their driving range and putting green open until finals, weather permitted, and since practice times are cut down, most of it will be on their own time.” 

Given these preperations, the team will definitely not be rusty when spring time comes. 

“Well, we go through and look at all the stats of all the guys and basically figure out a game plan for how each of them get better,” Wilkes said. “So, if we see they had a lot of putts, we work on drills that will help putting.”