The Penn State men's golf team came into the 40th Annual Fossum Invitational expecting to prove itself ready for the Big Ten Championships next weekend, but a disappointing finish may impact its confidence.

"It will make guys question themselves next weekend," Penn State head coach Greg Nye said. "It let them realize you either play well or get beat."

The Nittany Lions stumbled to a tie for 8th place in the 13 team field with an 11-over-par 875 at the 7,013-yard Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich.

This is the team's worst finish since the first tournament of the spring.

"It's pretty depressing," junior Robert Rohanna said.

"The course was set up well for us, but no one feels good about the way we played. There aren't too many good things to take with us next weekend, but I think we will be all right. We got our bad rounds out of our system."

The Penn State team had been playing well coming into this tournament, with two third place finishes and a victory at the Marshall Invitational, but there were some indications that this week may be a letdown.

"This week's tournament had a very good field and a course many of the teams had played before," Nye said. "We had an eight-hour road trip, and it's tough to drive all that way and compete at your highest level."

Despite a poor team performance, Rohanna and freshman Kevin Foley both turned in strong individual efforts.

Rohanna finished tied for 7th at 5-under-par 211, and Foley carded a 3-under-par 213 to tie for 11th.

Rohanna managed to capture his 10th career top-10 finish in the process.

"Kevin and Robert have been playing well all year," Nye said. "They are taking big steps to becoming two of the best in the conference."

The Lions had their share of struggles throughout both days of the competition but, the golfers did give their coach something positive to think about during the long trip home.

"I was really pleased at the way we hung in there," Nye said.

"It shows a lot that we kept it close, despite not playing our best golf."