NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sophomore Piercen Hunt sits atop the leaderboard after Round 1 of the NCAA New Haven Regional after shooting a career-low 64 to help the Fighting Illini overcome a slow start at Yale Golf Course on Monday.

"We started off flat, which was a little surprising," head coach Mike Small said. "We all striped it off the first tee beautifully, and then we made six bogeys in the first five holes, which is uncharacteristic.  We righted the ship, and got back on track and played pretty well after that. We didn't close the way we could have, but all-in-all, we're still in this thing.

"The main reason for that, though, is that Piercen kept us in there by shooting six-under par."

Hunt collected six birdies and an eagle to offset a pair of bogeys and stake to a one-stroke lead over a group of four golfers hot on his heels at five-under with 36 holes remaining. He opened Round 1 with a birdie on 10, followed by a bogey on 11 and was even par through four holes. That's when the second-team All-B1G selection hit his stride, however, shooting seven-under over his next 10 holes, capped by back-to-back birdie on Nos. 4 and 5.

Despite closing his day with a bogey on No. 9, Hunt's effort buoyed the Illini as the team chases its sixth regional title under Small and looks ahead to Round 2 and 3 with a NCAA Championship berth on the line for the top five teams.

Senior Adrien Dumont de Chassart and freshman Jackson Buchanan also finished under-par for the Illini in Round 1, each shooting a 69 (-1) to sit in a tie for 28^th. Senior Tommy Kuhl closed out the scoring for the Orange and Blue with a 1-over 71, while junior Jerry Ji carded a six-over 76.

"Every day you show up to play, and play the best you can and accept nothing else," Small added. "Today wasn't a bad day, it was a competitive day. But we need to play from strength, look up the leaderboard and move up the leaderboard if we're going to advance. You don't want to stay (on that line). We need to come here to compete for this championship. The way I look at it, we're six shots out of the lead, which isn't bad, and Piercen helped keep us in there, but tomorrow we need all five guys to come back and chase that lead."

As a team the No. 20-ranked Illini – the regions fourth-seeded team – carded a 273 (-7) to match top-seeded and No. 5-ranked North Carolina. No. 17 Wake Forest and No. 39 North Florida are tied for first at 267 (-13), followed by No. 49 Georgia Southern at 270 (-10) and No. 8 Texas Tech at 271 (-9).

Round 2 is set to begin with tee times on Tuesday starting at 8:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. CT. The Illini, paired with North Carolina and Texas Tech, will start on No. 10 beginning at 9 a.m. ET/8 a.m. CT. Live scoring is available throughout the tournament on Golfstat.com.

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