After scoring a 319 on the first day of last weekend's Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III New England Championships in Farmington, Conn. and ending the day in 10th place, the men's golf team shot a school-record team low of 298 on the second day, leaping four spots to grab a sixth-place finish out of 17 teams. "It all came together for this round. We've all been pushing each other, we've all been trying to get each other to play better, so finally everyone shot a good score," Lee Bloom '10 said. "Everyone stepped up."

The record-breaking performance came on the heels of last Wednesday's eighth-place finish at the Elms College Blazer Invitational, where Aaron Cusato '12 tied for second place, posting the best round of his collegiate career.

Prior to Wednesday's tournament, Brandeis had experienced an 11-day layoff, the longest break of the fall schedule.

Yet the layoff did not seem to negatively impact the Judges, who finished last weekend's ECAC tournament with a two-day total of 617.

Trinity College won the tournament with a two-day score of 582.

Coach Bill Shipman was very pleased with the team's performance.

"It shows great progress because five years ago 330 was a good score," he said.

Shipman said the team's familiarity with the course after day one may have played a factor in the team's 21-shot turnaround between Saturday and Sunday.

"The first time you play a course, it's always a little more difficult because you don't know what's in front of you," he said.

Cusato agreed, "We knew what we did wrong the first day, so we had something to correct."

Three Judges posted a score in the 70s on both days of the tournament.

Bloom led the Judges' scoring, shooting an eight-over-par 78 Saturday and a one-over-par 71 Sunday. Cusato tallied a seven-over-par 77 Saturday and a five-over-par 75 Sunday, while Charles Sacks '11 scored an eight-over-par 78 Saturday and a five-over-par 75 Sunday.

"I think we have a nice nucleus and a really, really excellent team," said Shipman.

The other two finishers for the Judges were Daniel Goldsmith '11 who shot a 17-over-par 87 on Saturday and a seven-over-par 77 on Sunday, and Kyle Mangan '12, who shot a 16-over-par 86 on Saturday and a 20-over-par 90 on Sunday. Goldsmith, who made his season debut just three days earlier at the Elms Invitational, had the largest two-day shot turnaround on the team, a 10-stroke improvement.

"Everyone's taking it a little more seriously now that we realize that we can all put up a good score, and everyone knows that someone is going to play well, so we have a chance at every tournament to put up a good number," Bloom said.

Earlier in the week, the Judges competed in the Elms College Invitational, where they finished eighth out of 13 teams with a cumulative score of 49-over-par 333. Nichols College, who finished second at the ECAC Tournament, won at Elms by shooting a 14-over-par 298.

Cusato shot a three-over-par 74 to lead the Judges, tying for second place with five other players out of 63 total golfers. Cusato, who shot the best round of his college career, was the third different Brandeis golfer in the team's last three competitions to lead the squad in scoring.

"It's nice because none of us feel an intense amount of pressure to play well because we know our teammates can carry us if we don't have a [good] round, so it takes the pressure off of us and lets us play our own game and try to score as good as we can," Cusato said.

Shipman said he is very impressed with the rookie's play so far this season.

"[Cusato] is a very consistent player," he said. "His bad shots aren't very bad, and he knows how to save shots. He doesn't hit big numbers. He knows how to control the ball. His consistency is very valuable."

Alex Podell '09, who shot a 14-over-par 85, Goldsmith, who also shot an 85, and Mangan, who shot an 18-over-par 89, rounded out the scoring for the Judges at Elms.

The Judges will next compete tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Nichols Invitational in Uxbridge, Mass.