Spiders Clipped by Davidson at A-10 Championship, Finish Second

Tuesday, April 22

Orlando, FL

7:30 AM

University of Richmond

Atlantic 10 Championship

Spiders Clipped by Davidson at A-10 Championship, Finish Second

04/24/2025 | Men's Golf

Results

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Richmond Spiders men's golf team finished second at the Atlantic 10 Championship Thursday at Evermore Resort after Davidson caught fire over the final five holes to beat UR by one stroke, 10-under par (854) to 9-under par (855). The Spiders entered the final round with a five-shot lead and led by double digits on the back 9 before the Wildcats rallied to play holes 14-18 in 8-under par, 10 shots better than Richmond's 2-over par. Richmond led until the final pairing on the final hole, when Davidson's Nate Faulkner made par from off the back of the green for the one-shot win.

"We knew we were in a good spot on 14, 15, and 16. A couple of things had to go perfect [for Davidson] for us to go one [stroke] down," said Spiders coach Adam Decker, who said he told his team "a lot can change in these last few holes, and expect that to happen" prior to the start of the final round.

Following the final hole-out, Decker and the team huddled on the green. "It's a team game and hold your heads high," said Decker of his post-round message. "They've a lot to be proud of. This is a really strong, resilient bunch. I told them just how proud I am of them and of their year and how hard they worked. Nobody needs to hang their head and be sad. We had a great year and that's the way sports go."

Richmond's second-place finish is its best at the A-10 Championship since winning the event in 2017. It is also the team's 19^th top-five finish at the A-10 Championship in 19 full seasons under Decker, who was named Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year by his peers following the event. It was the fourth A-10 Coach of the Year of Decker's career.

Senior Cole Ekert was Richmond's top individual finisher, placing second at 6-under par (210). It was Ekert's third straight top-six finish at the A-10 Championship after finishing fifth last year and sixth in 2023. Ekert is the first Spider to finish in the top two at the A-10 Championship since 2017, when Zack Justice and Andrew Sciarretta tied for runner-up honors. His result Thursday was the seventh top-two finish of his Spiders career and his third this season.

"We all gave it our all for 54 holes and it's one shot. That's the crazy thing about golf," said Ekert. "My whole goal this week was to just play as well as I can and our team is so deep and so solid from top to bottom I figured everybody else would kind of follow suit. I think we can only be proud of our performance."

Freshman Carson Baez tied for seventh at 2-under par (214), the second top-10 finish of his rookie campaign. Baez and Ekert were both named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Team following the event. Baez became the first Spider freshman to earn All-Conference honors since Ekert did so in 2022. Ekert became the first Richmond golfer to earn A-10 All-Conference honors four times.

Sophomore Jack LaPiana tied for 11th at 1-under par after playing his final 36 holes in 6-under par after a 5-over 77 in the opening round Tuesday. It was the highest finish of LaPiana's career.

Senior Patrick Isztwan finished at even-par 216, good for 14th place. It was his fourth top-15 finish this season.

Sophomore Quin Polin placed 48th at 14-over par (240).

Richmond finished the 2024-25 season with eight top-five finishes in 11 events, including two runner-ups and a win at the Loyola Intercollegiate.