The Marshall University women’s golf team tees off in Maryland Sunday through Monday for the Hoya Invitational in Beallsville, Maryland.

The Hoya Invitational is the Herd’s second tournament of 2015.

The Herd played in the 3M Jaguar Invitational in Augusta, Georgia March 13-15 and placed 11th overall.

Senior Korakot Simsiriwong led the team, finishing 14th individually.

“It felt great to kind of improve,” Simsiriwong said. “I really knew that I had a lot more potential than that and honestly, I knew that I could finish a whole lot better.”

Simsiriwong said it was her goal to finish in the top five or top 10, but the tournament was a learning experience.

Head coach Tiffany Prats said despite the team’s high expectations going into the Jaguar Invitational, the team did not perform as well as they hoped.

The winter weather that hit Huntington going into March prevented the team from practicing outside until this week.

The team plans to practice outside every day this week for the first time this semester to prepare for the Hoya Invitational.

“One thing we’re lacking is that competitiveness right now because we haven’t been outside,” Prats said. “So we’re going to create some matches this week but still have fun and be serious and get ready.”

The tournament is hosted by Georgetown University. Last season, the Herd finished seventh out of 16 in the tournament.

“Georgetown’s still a really good team” Prats said, “they’re having a great year, but if we don’t finish I’d say top three there, it will be really disappointing,”

Simsiriwong said the team has a lot to work on this season.

“We know how well we can play and are working hard to accomplish that goal of ours and honestly just finish great ranking in a tournament or individual finish,” Simsiriwong said.

Prats started as head coach for the Herd in July 2014 and said this season is exciting.

“You can see the culture of the team changing every day, from just walking around with everyone on campus to competing,” Prats said. “It’s a different team that shows up from when we showed up for our first event in the fall. We were just kind of there and not really sure where we fit in and now when we go to tournaments, we expect to compete.”

Kasey Madden can be contacted at [email protected].