The women's golf team will travel to Bloomington, Ind., this weekend to tee off in the Indiana Invitational -- its first competition in nearly a month.

Because of the long layoff, assistant coach Denise St. Pierre is looking forward to the tournament.

"We're very prepared for this," she said. "We've been going over the golf course with the girls to get to know it better."

This is the second year the team has played in the tournament, which should be a benefit, she said.

St. Pierre thinks the invite could be very important for the 29th-ranked Lady Lions this season.

"It could be a real turning point for us if we could stay with Indiana or be close to them," she said. Indiana is currently ranked eighth in the nation. St. Pierre also feels that a top-five finish in the 17-team tournament is a realistic goal for the Lady Lions.

Some of the other top teams in the tournament include Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Northern Illinois and Ohio State.

The first day of the tournament could be a real endurance test for the team, St. Pierre said. It has to play 36 holes on a course that she said is surprisingly hilly. The key for the team will be to not get too keyed-up and to stay focused, she said.

"We have to make sure that the girls don't get so into it that they burn themselves out after 20 holes,"she said.

Traveling to the tournament for the Lady Lions will be Cathy Gitzendanner, Kerry Lee O'Leary, Meg Young, Wendy MacTurk and Kristin Clark. Because of the way the tournament is set up, there will be no one playing individually.

St. Pierre said Gitzendanner has been playing very well lately and should have a good tournament. She also said that Clark and O'Leary played well in the tournament last year when the team finished fifth.

Young is confident about the team's chances at the invitational.

"If all of us play well, we have a shot at winning it," she said.

Young also said the bad weather the team has faced lately in practice will prepare it for anything it might see in Indiana.

"If that can't prepare us, I don't know what will," she said.