CONCORD, N.H. -- It was a tale of two rounds for Post University Men's Golf on the first day of the Penmen Invitational hosted by Southern New Hampshire State University at the Concord Country Club this week, but if round two is an indication of what is to come for the Eagles, they could be well on their way to a third straight invitational win to start the season.

After struggling in the first round of the day to the tune of a 12-over-par finish that put them fifth overall behind Merrimack, Adelphi, Assumption, and the University of Hartford who led the pack, the Eagles turned it on in round two with a three-over-par finish that propelled them into second, three strokes behind St. Thomas Aquinas. 

THE BASICS 
 
Team Results – 2nd Out of 14 Teams (575)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
For a majority of those teams competing that finished in the top half of the leaderboard following round one, there was an immense amount of shuffling up and down the standings as teams who posted a strong round one struggled in round two while teams who struggled in round one performed better in round two.

For context, Post University's fifth-place finish in round one saw their top individual golfer in graduate student Bill Koch finished one-over-par in 13th place while Adelphi junior Alec Ramos led the pack with a one-under-par finish in a tie with Hartford junior Austin Gambel and Bentley freshman Zach Stewart. Only Stewart remained atop the leaderboard after round two while Ramos dropped back to 24th after a seven-over-par round two and Gambel's eight-over-par second round sank him to 28th overall.

As a team, it was University of Hartford just three strokes over par in first place while a second-place tie at seven-over-par between Assumption and Adelphi occurred, Merrimack sat 10-over-par in fourth, and then Post came in at 12-over-par in fifth with three teams tied at 13-over-par behind them in Franklin Pierce, Bentley, and St. Thomas Aquinas. 

A complete flip would happen as the Spartans would use a one-under-par second round to propel from sixth all the way to first, while a strong three-over-par showing from the Eagles saw them make up ground and get to within three strokes of St. Thomas Aquinas. The would be true for Bentley as they moved into the three spot with a four-over-par round while Adelphi and Hartford dropped back to fourth and fifth with respective 11-over and 16-over rounds. Assumption would also plummet down to sixth place following a 13-over round two.

Improvement would be seen across the board for Post University as Koch's four-under-par second round put him at three-under for the day and in a tie for the individual title with Bentley's Stewart with senior Conor Byrne snuck into third at two-under and freshman Tanner Little from St. Thomas Aquinas lurked close behind at one-under.

While a stroke higher than round one, senior Ian Wivestad's three-over finish saw him tied for eighth overall and a similar finish for senior Jace Carlisle placed him tied for 18th overall at five-over. Senior Ethan Phillips turned in a pair of four-over rounds, tying him for 33rd overall and junior Amal Jha played a big role in Post's second-round comeback as he dropped his total score following a nine-over first round with a one-over second round, an eight stroke difference for the Eagles.

Rounding out the pack for Post was freshman Braden Shea who had a six-over first round, but 11-over-par second round that put him 65th overall in the invite heading into Tuesday. But as a team, the nine stroke difference for the Eagles put them at 15-over in the invitational with a chance to close out their third straight invite win to start the year.