The men's ultimate frisbee club is set to kick off its spring season this weekend as it travels to Philadelphia to compete in the West Philly Invite.

Nineteen other collegiate men's squads from all along the East Coast will attend the tournament, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and held in Fairmount Park in downtown Philadelphia. The teams will take the field at 9 a.m. on Saturday for four games of round-robin play in one of four pools. After this preliminary play, each team will be seeded for Sunday's competition and placed in either the championship or the consolation bracket.

The men expect to face stiff competition this weekend, as many of the East Coast's powerhouses, such as the University of Virginia and the University of Massachusetts, will be in attendance. Additionally, the team may face some challenges on the field as a result of its lack of outdoor practicing due to the winter weather. "It's unpredictable," co-captain Matt Leydig said. "Once you get outside, everything changes."

But while the team's outdoor play has been limited throughout the winter months, it has found other ways to prepare itself for the spring season.

"We have been conditioning two or three times a week," co-captain Tom Pribicko said. "We have also been practicing in a winter league out at the Multi-Sports Complex."

The team hopes that the tournament will provide needed playing experience that will help the players come together as a more cohesive unit.

"[In competitions] you learn teammates' tendencies so that you hopefully get to jell by the time it matters," team member Kevin Cramer said.

The men most certainly have their eyes on the time when it matters, which for the squad is the time of the national qualifying sectional and regional tournaments. At a preseason team meeting, qualifying for nationals was firmly established as the team's goal. The team hopes not only to earn the opportunity to face off against the nation's best collegiate ultimate programs, but also to avenge last season's narrow miss of a national tournament berth.

While the team lost a few key players from last year's squad, the returning members feel confident in this year's team, especially with strengths such as depth and adeptness at controlling the frisbee. It is these strengths that make the team members optimistic about their chances of qualifying for nationals.

"This is the year we have a good shot of going to nationals," Pribicko said, "so I'm excited about that."

For now, the men are setting nationals aside and concentrating on their 2003 spring opener, where they will get their first glimpse of how they stack up against other teams in their region.

They are looking forward to the chance to perform well in the opener to establish the Penn State team for this season, but hold the same simple expectations as they would for any other tournament. "We always expect to succeed," Leydig said. "We always expect to be there Sunday with a chance to win."

The men also await the chance that this tournament provides after a long winter: to simply get outside onto the fields and play ultimate frisbee.

"[The tournament] lets you get out there and play," Cramer said. "That's what you live for."