It's that time of the year again, time for the Penn State women's golf team to host its only home tournament of the season.

This weekend, the team will compete in the 31st Nittany Lion Invitational, as play starts at 8 a.m. today through Sunday at the Blue Course.

Coming off of a ninth place finish at last weekend's Lady Northern Invitational, the team is looking forward to playing a familiar course and improving upon last year's second place finish, a stroke behind University of California-Davis. Coming home is always something to cherish, and it's the little things that are important.

"It's nice to sleep in your own bed and have your family here," junior Christin Pacacha said. "It's nice to see your mom out there and you don't have to get on a plane or ride in a van."

But the team's optimism isn't based solely upon eating home-cooked meals; the format of the tournament also helps. The Nittany Lion Invitational is three days of 18 holes of golf. Tournaments like the Lady Northern have one day of 36 holes and one day of 18. The team feels the extra day this week should help.

"Thirty-six holes is just more or less a mental grind, after awhile it just turns into who is strong enough mentally to get through it," senior Maggie Lester, the defending Nittany Lion Invitational champion, said.

Another incentive for the team is that this is technically Senior Night. This is the last time the seniors will play at home.

"It's a very supportive atmosphere, we have a lot of fans here who are cheering for us," senior Evelyn Paik said. "We'll do everything we can to make sure it ends on a good note for everyone."

Being the host also means the Lions will be able to enter multiple teams and get every member, not just the regular starters, valuable playing experience. Then, when the PSU B and C teams finish, the players turn their focus on cheering.

"The rest of our team is here too. Last year when we played the other teams [B and C teams] would come out and support us, which we don't usually get on the road. . . so I think that that will definitely help," said Lester.

Coming home gives the team a chance to rebound from last week's disappointing finish in East Lansing.

"It is always nice to come home and be able to play on a course we're used to and put up some better numbers and get our confidence back," head coach Denise St. Pierre said.

Judging by the team's predictions, it's easy to see that the confidence is back.

"We're gonna win, we're gonna keep the [trophy] at home," Lester said.