CICERO, N.Y. – Led by another strong effort from junior Tommy Ethier (Nashua, N.H./Bishop Guertin HS), the Bentley University golf team impressed Friday during the first day of the Le Moyne Fall Invitational at the Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club.

In windy and chilly conditions, the Falcons posted their third best round of the fall, a 296, and finished the day tied with Southern New Hampshire for third with a 296 total. Final-day action is slated to resume at 9 am Saturday morning with coach Mickey Herron's team three strokes back of Canada's Laval University and one back of the host Le Moyne University Dolphins.

Ethier shot a 71 over the par-72, 6,506-yard course, finishing at one-under for the third straight round. That put him in a tie for sixth place in a field of 90 and three strokes out of the lead, held by Le Moyne's Ryan Johnson after a four-under 68. Laval's Baptiste Mory followed with a 69 and three others posted an opening round 70. Ethier birdied three holes and had a pair of bogeys.

Next on the scoreboard for Bentley was sophomore Ryan Daly (Beverly, Mass./Beverly HS), who is tied for tenth with a one-over 73. Senior Rob Falconer (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley HS) shot a 74 and junior Ellis Yoder (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead HS) followed with a 75.

A total of 15 teams are competing in the tournament.