CHAMPIONSHIP INFO    LIVE SCORING

WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University men's golf team will be seeking their second conference championship in three years and their sixth since 2006 when they compete in the 2019 Northeast-10 Conference Championships Sunday and Monday at the En-joie Golf Club in Endicott, N.Y.

Coach Mickey Herron's team is forecast to finish fifth, according to a pre-championship poll of conference coaches. If that holds, it would end a string of eight straight top four finishes for the Falcons. During their run, there have been three first-place finishes (2011, 2014, 2017), two seconds, a third and two fourths.

Assumption College, which has never won a conference men's golf championship, topped the voting with three firsts and 71 points. Also projected to be ahead of the Falcons, who received 55 points, are Le Moyne (69 points, 4 firsts), Southern New Hampshire (65, 2) and Franklin Pierce (58, 1).

Three of the five Bentley players who'll be making the trip to central New York were also part of last year's squad that finished second on the same course. They are senior Robert Falconer (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley HS) and a pair of juniors, Tommy Ethier (Nashua, N.H./ Bishop Guertin HS) and Ellis Yoder (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS).

Ethier was second in 2018 with a 68-72-140 and Falconer followed in fourth with a 72-71-143. Yoder tied for 32nd with a 75-80-155. All three also helped Bentley finish second in the NCAA Division II East/Atlantic Regional and qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships last May.

In 2017, Falconer tied for fifth and Ethier tied for 16th as part of the Falcons' championship team.

In two tournaments this season, Falconer has a 73.4 stroke average, Ethier follows at 74.6 and Yoder a 76.2.

Bentley will also be represented in the championships by a pair of freshmen, Jared Walter (South Windsor, Conn./South Windsor HS) and Santiago Urrutia Ruiz (Guatamala City, Guatamala).

The Falcons opened the current season at the Franklin Pierce Invitational, where they were third of 14 teams. They trailed Southern New Hampshire and finished ahead of Franklin Pierce and Assumption.

Two weeks ago at the SNHU Penmen Invitational, they trailed all four teams who were ranked higher in the poll while placing ninth of 17.

NE10 MEN'S GOLF PRE-CHAMPIONSHIP POLL

1. Assumption - 71 (3)
2. Le Moyne - 69 (4)
3. So. New Hampshire - 65 (2)
4. Franklin Pierce - 58 (1)
5. Bentley - 55
6. Saint Rose - 38
7. Saint Michael's - 36
8. Saint Anselm - 25
9. Adelphi - 17
10. American International - 16