Coming into this past weekend's Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., Penn State women's golf coach Denise St. Pierre said that the team had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The Nittany Lions were going up against a field comprised entirely of higher-ranked teams.

Considering the Lions were ranked No. 73, which was 32 spots lower than Furman, the next-lowest ranked team, it's easy to see why there weren't really any expectations outside of the blue and white camp.

The everything to gain attitude worked as the team started off in 13th place after the first day of competition, only to overtake Alabama by four strokes yesterday to finish 12th out of the 15 teams.

St. Pierre said that passing Alabama was an added bonus considering the team wasn't looking at what other teams were doing.

"Coming into this weekend, we were just focused on playing conservatively and keeping the big numbers out of play because this is a difficult course," St. Pierre said. "And on Sunday we just talked about sticking to our game plan and we were able to jump another spot and grab another win."

Two other teams the Lions were able to beat were Northwestern and Michigan, both Big Ten teams finished ahead of Penn State at the Lady Northern Invitational earlier this fall.

"It always is nice to beat Big Ten teams," St. Pierre said. "Especially considering they had our number earlier this year, it just shows that the team is improving each week."

Leading the way for Penn State was senior Maggie Lester. Lester, who was disappointed with her 20-over-par, 13th-place finish at the Nittany Lion Invitational two weeks ago, was able to overcome an out-of-bounds tee shot during her final round to post a 10-over 223. This was good enough to place her in a tie for 17th place against a much more difficult field than she faced at the invitational.

St. Pierre was pleased with the play of Lester.

"Maggie had it going, she had it to two-under at one point during her final round, but the out-of-bounds sort of took the wind out of her sails," St. Pierre said.

"But she has nothing to be ashamed of, anytime you finish in the top 25 against a field like this it is an accomplishment."

Although the Lions finished outside of the top 10, they are still optimistic and positive about their play thus far this season. Of course, some more wins would be nice, but St. Pierre believes that they are just around the corner.

"We could've done better, but you always can. As a team, we are making some great strides," she said. "The team is focused on the right things and as long as we don't get lazy and keep working hard, we will continue to improve. Things will get better and eventually everything will fall into place, which is exciting, because right now we are very close to becoming a great team."