GROTON, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University men's golf team closed out its third fall season Wednesday with a third-place finish among five teams at the Mitchell College Invitational at Shennecossett Golf Club.
 
With Eastern coming off its second Little East Conference championship and seventh-place finish at the New England Intercollegiate Golf Assocation (NEIGA) in as many years, four of the team's top five players took the fall finale off, instead handing the reins to senior Billy Beaver (Danbury), junior Noel Teter (Burrillville, RI), sophomore Ryan Silva (Windham, ME) and first-year player Owen Cascario (Vernon). That foursome joined junior Jonah Dupuis (Hampton), who was coming off of a ninth-place finish at NEIGA last weekend and second-place overall finish at the LEC Championships Oct. 6-7 at Ellington Ridge Country Club.
 
As a team at the 6,562 yard, par-71 course, Eastern finished 23 strokes off the pace with a 57-over par 341, placing third behind Wesleyan University (+34, 318) and Western Connecticut State University (+47, 331) and ahead of host Mitchell (+75, 359) and Emmanuel College (+80, 364).
 
Dupuis shot 7-over 78 over 18 holes to finish in a two-way tie for third, four strokes behind medalist Shamus McLean of Mitchell and three behind Fisher Hirsch of Wesleyan.
 
Teter was tenth among the 24 golfers with a 12-over 83, Silva tied for 15^th with Cascario, both at 19-over 90, with Beaver sharing 20^th place with a 27-over 98.
 
At last year's Mitchell Invitational, the Warriors eased to a 29-stroke win over runner-up Mount St. Mary College in the four-team field, with then-sophomores Dupuis and Ashton Lewis (Fairfield) finishing 1-2 at par and 2-over, respectively, and then-first-year player Cal Angelo (Southington) fourth at 5-over.
 
During the regular season this year, Eastern captured its own season-opening Warriors Invitational in mid-September at the Windham Golf Course, and followed up by claiming the Rose City Invitational  in Norwich and the Brett Williamson Invitational in Westfield, MA and placing second at the Elms College Blazer Invitational at two different courses in Massachusetts in the lead-up to the LEC Championships.
 
For the first time, the LEC champion was awarded an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. The Warriors will compete there May 16-19 at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, KY.