FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – After a successful outing at the Hobble Creek Fall classic two weeks ago to open the season, one that saw them place in the top half of the leaderboard, the Northern Arizona University golf team is preparing for their second test of the fall with the Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif., this weekend.

"Compared to last year, we definitely started out the season better," said head coach Brad Bedortha. "Last year, we really struggled at Hobble Creek, and we definitely played better this year. However, it's still not up to where we want to be, so that tournament was a good gauge, to get their feet wet and get the season started."

The Lumberjacks are looking to build off last season's Big Sky Championship title, and it starts with the upperclassmen leadership on the team. Senior Jacquie LeMarr and junior Kim Cifuentes were impressive their last time out for the 'Jacks, with LeMarr shooting an 11-over 153 and Cifuentes logging an 8-over 150, good enough for 17th-place overall in the 94 person field.

Both LeMarr and Cifuentes will start for NAU at the Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate this weekend, playing out of the No. 5 and No. 1 slots, respectively. Freshman Sofya Anokhina will play out of the No. 2 position, with sophomores Kaitlyn Saum and Carly Akine right behind her at No. 3 and No. 4.

"We're really lucky right now," said Bedortha. "We have seven players that are all very competitive, which makes it very hard to pick a starting five. I wouldn't say there's necessarily one person, one golfer that we're going to ride or that is going to step-up. I think they're all capable of playing great, so I feel very comfortable with the whole team right now."

The key to the improved play from the Lumberjacks already this season is the time spent working on their physical, mental and emotional condition, also known as their PME state, instead of their technique and score.

"The biggest thing I noticed was that we were doing a much better job practicing when everybody's on board with everything we're trying to do, but then we would get to the tournament and we just weren't executing to the level we needed to," said Bedortha. "So, we really worked on trying to get them away from focusing on their technique and score, and focus on the PME state while they're playing golf."

Originally introduced to the game of golf by the company Vision 54, Bedortha brought this golfing philosophy to his team at the beginning of the season when he invited some coaches from the company to practice with the Lumberjacks. Since then, Bedortha has seen his team make positive strides.

"Knowing the players, they're always looking to improve and trying to find ways to get better," said Bedortha. "We have a lot of talented players who've worked really hard and put in a lot of effort, now we have to start putting the same kind of effort into the PME functions as opposed to worrying about technique and their score. I'm excited to see them continue to put it to use and to continue to work on it throughout the fall semester."

NAU is set to tee-off from the three-round, 54-hole Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate with a 7:30 a.m. MST shotgun start both Saturday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept. 27. Keep up with the action by following us on twitter @naugolf, or follow along on Golf Stat Live Scoring.