It has been a stressful week for the Northwestern women’s golf team. Not only is it midterm week, but it’s also Big Ten championship week.

Amid all the tests and papers, the No. 19 Wildcats fly to Minneapolis today, where they will begin play for the conference title on Friday.

NU finished sixth in last year’s conference tournament and eventually moved on to the NCAA East Regional, finishing with a surprising second-place performance. The Cats’ season ended with a 24th-place finish at the 2000 NCAA Championships.

This weekend, the Cats’ bid to make it back begins.

This season’s conference tournament consists of 72 holes – 36 on Friday, 18 on Saturday and 18 on Sunday.

NU, which has been ranked in the Top 25 throughout the spring season, faces stiff conference competition.

In this week’s Mastercard Collegiate Golf Rankings, three other Big Ten teams are in the Top 25 – No. 13 Ohio State, No. 17 Michigan State and No. 23 Purdue.

No. 26 Michigan and No. 27 Indiana also pose a threat.

The Cats are familiar with this weekend’s course, Minnesota’s Les Bolstead. NU fared well there in October, finishing in a tie for fifth at the Lady Northern Invitational.

“We understand the layout of the course because we played it in the fall,” NU coach Chris Regenberg said.

Regenberg said the weather has been tough on all of the courses at each tournament. She expects the same rough conditions this weekend.

“But it’s the same for everybody,” she added.

Lately, the Cats have been focusing more on the mental aspect of their game.

“We all need to play hard and keep good attitudes,” NU sophomore Elizabeth Burden said.

Regenberg said she is happy with her team’s mechanics. NU has finished third in its last two tournaments – the Indiana Invitational and the Spring Buckeye Invitational, where the Cats finished behind Ohio State and Michigan State.

“We’re prepared with individual game styles,” Regenberg said. “We need a winning edge to get us out of third and over the top.”

This weekend’s tournament will take the six-player format, counting the top four scores from each team in each of the four rounds.

Burden has been the most consistent golfer for the Cats this season, but NU has also seen strong play from last season’s All-Big Ten selection Emily Gilley and freshman Hana Kim, who nailed a hole-in-one last week.

“Anybody on our roster is capable of having a great tournament,” Regenberg said.