The women's golf team will travel to more familiar territory this weekend for the Duke Invitational at Durham, N.C.

After its last journey to Timacuan Golf Course in Florida, the sight may be a welcome relief. The Lady Lions have been playing the par-73 course in North Carolina for the past 10 years, Assistant Coach Denise St. Pierre said.

"We do feel good about this tournament because it is a golf course we're familiar with," St. Pierre said. "I think we're ready and comfortable with the surroundings."

The team has been going over the course mentally as well as physically to prepare itself.

"We've played the course in our minds," sophomore Cathy Gitzendanner said. "Golf is a big mind game. I focus on the present, I don't dwell on the past, I don't think about the future.

"If I have a bad hole, I put it behind me, otherwise my mind starts playing games with me. I know I could have done a lot better (in Florida). Psychologically, I wasn't prepared for it. Hopefully, everything will come out this weekend."

While the course may be familiar, the competition is not.

"There are going to be some new schools this year," St. Pierre said. "It will be exciting because we usually don't get to play some of these teams."

In fact, the field of 20 teams was a surprise to host Duke and will probably be limited to 18 in years to come based on team strength. Many nationally-ranked schools will be there, including the University of Southern California, University of Arizona and No. 1 Tulsa University.

The same players will make the trip as traveled to Florida with the exception of Debra Patton, who will go instead of Kristin Clark. The Lady Lions hope for a total of 320 or less every day and feel that their time off has helped their game as well as alleviated pressure from schoolwork.

"Our average has been anywhere from 325 to 330. If we can place under that average, we've done well. Where we place in the field is secondary," St. Pierre said. "One of the things we haven't been doing between the last two tournaments is getting outside and playing. Now we can get out there and actually play. We can get into the pace of playing, the comfortable routine of playing."

"We've been playing at the White Course and the Blue Course, and we've worked on our short game," Gitzendanner said. "We basically just want to achieve our team goal and where it takes us, it takes us."