This weekend the Red travels to Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, N.J. to participate in the Princeton Invitational golf tournament. The tournament will feature some of the first competition between the Ivy League teams this season.

“We can count on most of the Ivy League being there,” said senior John Dean. “This is our first tournament of the spring to see how we stack up against the rest of the Ivy League.”

The Red goes into the tournament off of a lackluster performance in the Fireline Towson Invitational tournament, but morale on the team is very high.

“Morale is high; we’re confident,” said senior captain Alex Lavin. “We know we can beat anyone, we just need to go out there and put up the scores we are capable of shooting.”

This course will not be that difficult in relation to the rest of the courses on the team’s schedule, according to Lavin and Dean, but the weather during this season could present some problems when the team tees off.

“The course is generally easy, but the conditions are sure to be tough given how dry our season has been,” Dean said. “The greens will be quick with significant slope. Good scores will come from leaving the ball on the proper side of the hole to ensure an easy two-putt and a good shot at birdie.”

To combat this, the team put in a lot of preparation in order to simulate these abnormal conditions and the pressure that the golfers will see this weekend. Lavin has stressed that it is particularly important to prepare this year because the Ivy League teams are evenly matched, and anyone could take the title.

“To prep we had a good weekend of qualifying rounds to put ourselves in pressure situations,” Lavin said. “We’re hoping those rounds, along with the previous weeks’ tournament[s], will put us in a competitive mindset.”

When asked who could potentially have the biggest impact on the team this weekend, Dean and Lavin both said that every member of the team is dangerous and capable of getting a low score.

The Red sees this tournament as a stepping stone to the Ivy League Championship, which is the ultimate goal for the team this year, according to Dean.

“Our goal every tournament is to come out with a win,” he said. “Our secondary goal this weekend is definitely to come out on top of the Ivy League teams at the tournament. Taking home an Ivy League championship in three weeks is our number one goal and finishing on top of the Ivy League teams this weekend would give us the confidence and motivation to carry our work ethic and performance to championship weekend in three weeks.”