ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Lafayette Men's Golf team created a nice bookend to the tournament regular season by rallying past St. Joseph's and Binghamton to capture the team title in the Navy Spring Invitational on the par-71 Naval Academy Golf Course.

The Leopards who opened the 2018-19 season with a wire-to-wire win in the Alex Lagowitz Memorial at Colgate in September demonstrated that they had the moxie to come from behind against a strong 15-team field.  Lafayette finished with a team total of 591, three shots clear of runner-up Binghamton.

Freshman Ryan Tall led the way by following an opening round 72 with a second round 73 to finish in a three-way tie for first with Binghamton's Ryan Rodriguez and Kyle Underwood, of LIU. While Tall missed out on medalist honors when Rodriguez won the playoff, he was nonetheless pleased at what he and his teammates accomplished over the two-day event.

"This week was definitely one to remember," said Tall. "There were so many teams that were close at the end and we were fortunate to play well coming down the stretch. Losing in a playoff wasn't the best way to finish the tournament individually, but I would not want to have it any other way. God has certainly been good to me and this team."

The strong efforts extended well beyond Tall. Sophomore Cole Berger was two-strokes behind the leaders at 147 to finish in at T-6. Brendan Cronin carded one of the best scores on the second day with a 1-over 72 to finish T-15 at 149 and Will Halamandaris bounced back from a rocky opening round to post a 74 and a two-day total of 152, which was good for a T-22.

Freshman Kazuki Osawa rounded out the Leopards contingent with a 154 and freshman Drew Steiner, competing as an individual, had a strong two-day total of 152 to join Halamandaris in the group in 22nd place.

"Coming from behind against a team as strong as St. Joe's is very satisfying," said head coach Jim Hutnick. "The way they played the first day - that is a lot of strokes (four) to make up against a good club."

Lafayette played the final day in threesomes with day one leader St. Joseph's, who had won the Columbia Invite by 12 strokes last weekend, and Binghamton, who won the Matthews Auto Collegiate Invite by 18 strokes in the fall. The Leopards were in the field for both of those events and knew they would need a strong second day to come out on top.

"You can't overlook the job that Ryan Tall did as a freshman having a big tournament and how well he played," said Hutnick. "Cole Berger put up good numbers and was real steady. Brendan Cronin didn't fare as well yesterday but came back and was one-over today and Will Halamandaris had a poor day the first day, by his standards, but came back and had a very solid round. It was a very good team effort without a doubt."

The Leopards have one more thing on the agenda before turning their focus to the Patriot League Championships next weekend. On Tuesday, Lafayette is scheduled to play a match against rival Lehigh at Saucon Valley Country Club.

The League postseason will be hosted by Colgate and is scheduled to take place at Seven Oaks GC on April 27-28.