The men's golf team, anchored by four returning starters, will begin its quest for a national championship over spring break by playing in two tournaments.

Coach Mary Kennedy-Zierke said that she feels good about the new season and looks to continue the success of last season's team, which reached the NCAA regionals.

"I'm very optimistic as we're playing a strong starting four that were with us last season," she said. "They're strong and we're still ranked number one in our district."

Those four starters -- William Smith, Dan Vona, Matt Shiley and Jason Tyska -- also are confident about their chances this season and feel that they have jelled together as a group.

"We feel we're coming together," Tyska, a junior, said. "We've been together for two years now and we're helping each other out . . . our goal is to make it to nationals."

The first tournament the team will play in is the William & Mary Invitational in Kingsmill, Va. This tourney will include 21 schools and a number of teams from Penn State's district, including Georgetown, Rutgers, Temple and Fairleigh Dickinson.

The second tournament will be the Rattler Collegiate Invitational, hosted by Florida A & M in Tallahassee, Fla. This contest will be composed of a number of small southern schools and junior colleges, including Emory, Kentucky State and Mobile College.

Kennedy-Zierke was concerned about the team's lack of outdoor practice recently due to the weather and believes that these tournaments will be a good tuneup.

"We've had little time to work at practice and we've been in Holuba all the time," she said. "It will be excellent competition for us this time of year."

"If we play to our capabilities we can win both tournaments," Tyska added.