Georgetown golf returned to old territory to kick off its new season this weekend.

While the women traveled to South Bend, Ind., the site of last spring’s Big East tournament, to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational, the Hoya men head to North Carolina today to participate in the competitive UNC-Greensboro Invitational for the second consecutive year.

The men’s golfers enter this new season fresh off a promising summer in which they were ranked No. 24 in Golf Digest’s list of the best balanced colleges, taking into account both the golf programs themselves and the academic opportunities at each college.

The Hoyas will shake up their lineup this weekend in North Carolina as they look to improve on last year’s 12th-place finish in the tournament. Though Georgetown will return a number of solid contributors, the team has lost four graduates, including Bob olina (MSB ’05) and Matt Hoesley (COL ’05), both of whom competed in the Invitational last year.

Leading the Hoyas on the course will be senior captains David Erickson and Matt Myers. “They’re basically the cornerstone of the team,” Head Coach Tommy Hunter said of the two seniors, who were captains last year as juniors.

Hunter also said that juniors Tim Moynihan and Matt Busa will compete this weekend as part of the Hoya five. Both juniors were top individual finishers in last April’s Big East Championship, contributing to the team’s second-place overall finish.

The team is in the midst of a qualifying round for the fifth spot on the course.

“We’ve got some youth coming in really strong,” Hunter said of the incoming golfers. The team will add two freshmen, Tim Hager and Pat Sherry.

Hager competed in the U.S. Amateur Championship in August, finishing 13 over par in two rounds of play and failing to qualify for the match-play elimination rounds.

The Hoyas open their season in North Carolina on Monday and Tuesday.

“[The tournament] presents us with a venue where we’ll find out how strong we can be,” Hunter said.

The Georgetown women’s team already began its season this weekend in the Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.

The Hoyas finished third in a field of 17 schools at the tournament, led by senior Christy Larrimore, who golfed her way to a sixth-place finish with a three-round total of 232 (76, 79, 77) on the par-72 course. Notre Dame won the Invitational with a team total of 929, with Toledo finishing nine strokes behind, posting a team score of 938. Georgetown was a few more strokes behind, totaling 945 and coming in third.

Freshman Chelsea Curtis also placed well for Georgetown, tying for 11th place with a total of 235 (79, 76, 80). Sophomore Kaitlyn Dwyer tied for 40th with a score of 244 (78, 78, 88), while freshman Brittany Skoda and sophomore Stephanie Cope rounded out the Hoya team, placing 46th and 57th respectively.

The Hoyas graduated a couple of key players last spring, but returned one in the form of new Acting Head Coach Connie Isler (MSB ’05), as Head Coach Leland Beckel is on temporary medical leave. Isler will take over the reins of the program this fall after finishing her college career as the Big East co-champion last spring. Isler was a team captain on the Hilltop for both her junior and senior year and was ranked in the top 100 on Golfweek/Titleist Women’s Amateur Rankings.

The women’s next tournament will take place on Sept. 24-25 at the Princeton Invitational in New Jersey.