BOWLING GREEN, Fla.—Villanova had four different players record a round of even par or better at this week's 2021 BIG EAST Championship Presented by Jeep and the Wildcats placed fifth in the team standings with their lowest conference tournament score in nine years. Wednesday was the final round in the 54-hole tournament and Villanova wound up with team scores of 290-299-298=887 (+23) over three days at Streamsong Resort which hosted the BIG EAST Championship for the first time.
 
Junior Noah Peck (Hunt Valley, Md.) was the Wildcats low scorer for the week (219, +3) and tied for 10^th place individually, while freshman Peter Weaver (Frontenac, Mo.) had the team's top score in the final round when he carded a 71 (-1) on the 7,060-yard course. Weaver started the day with consecutive birdies on the first two holes and later made birdie on the 11^th in his best round of the tournament.
 
The overall performance for the week was one Villanova could feel good about. This week's tournament was the first time the Wildcats finished with a team score below 900 at the BIG EAST Championship since 2013 and their total of 887 over 54 holes was the lowest at the conference tournament since the team shot 870 (+6) at the 2012 tournament nine years ago.
 
Villanova played eight tournaments this spring after nearly a year layoff due to the COVID pandemic and the Wildcats recorded a team score of 300 or better in each of their final 11 rounds of the year. There was depth to the lineup as Hunt, Weaver, senior Max Siegfried (Villanova, Pa.) and senior Reb Banas (Winnetka, Ill.) all posted at least one round of par or better this week on the par-72 Streamsong course. Villanova tied for the tournament lead with 46 birdies and ranked second in the field with an average score of 4.83 (-10) on the four par-five holes on the course. Four of the five players in the Wildcats lineup played the par-fives under par in the tournament.
 
Peck opened the tournament with the Wildcats best score of the week and the best round relative to par of his collegiate career when he recorded a 69 (-3) in the first round on Monday morning. He wound up posting rounds of 69-75-75 (219, +3) to finish in a tie for 10^th out of 45 golfers. Peck led the team with 11 birdies and tied with Weaver for the team lead with 32 pars.
 
The strong final round for Weaver lifted him into second in the Villanova lineup and a tie for 13^th place on the final leaderboard. He lowered his score with each round of the tournament to finish at 75-74-71 (220, +4) with 32 pars on the week. Weaver finishes his freshman collegiate season ranked second on the team with a 74.19 stroke average. His season included four top-20 finishes and four rounds of par or better during the spring campaign.
 
Graduate student Ambrose Abbracciamento (Newtown, Pa.) tied for 23^rd place with a score of 227 (+11). He was one of two players in the tournament to have two eagles during the week, both of which came on the par-five 14^th hole which he eagled twice and birdied once. Abbracciamento posted scores of 74-73-80 and was the team leader this season with an even 74.00 stroke average for the year.
 
Siegfried recorded his best round of the week on Wednesday and finished second on the team with 10 birdies. He tied for 26^th place overall after recording scores of 79-77-72 (228, +12). Banas shot even par in the first round on Monday and finished tied for 33^rd with scores of 72-82-80 (234, +18).
 
Connecticut won the team title with a score of 869 (+5) and finished six strokes ahead of runner-up Marquette. Hunter Eichhorn from the Golden Eagles and Joe Cascino from Butler tied for individual medalist honors with a 54-hole score of 209 (-7).