After a summer of practice and a two-week team trip to New Zealand, UW women’s golf coach Mary Lou Mulflur believes her team is ready to compete.

“We are very excited,” said Mulflur, who enters her 27th year as head coach. “We’ve been playing a lot, and we feel good about where we’re at right now.”

The Huskies will begin their 2009-2010 season by hosting the 28th annual Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, which begins today and runs until Wednesday. Some of the nation’s top teams will be playing, including No. 8 Pepperdine, No. 17 California and No. 24 Stanford. Last year, Stanford won by 16 strokes. The Huskies have never won the team title.

The starting lineup for the first tournament looks a bit different than last year. Senior Christina Yoon will start at the No. 1 spot, while sophomore Darcie Richmond will see some tournament action at the No. 2 position. Richmond only competed in three tournaments last year as a freshman.

Junior Anya Alvarez, who was the Huskies’ top player last year, will start at No. 3. Senior Molly Aronsson, who was honored as Vermont’s Female Athlete of the Month in August, will start at No. 4, and redshirt freshman Brittany Tallman rounds out the group. Tallman redshirted last year because of a wrist injury and is a two-time Washington 3A state individual champion.

Mulflur is also sending four individuals to the tournament: sophomore Sadena Parks and juniors Karinn Dickinson, Katie Saucier and Nicole Ferrero.

Last season’s starters will all return for this season, as players are antsy to forget about last year’s disappointing finish. The Huskies missed the NCAA championships by just five strokes at the NCAA qualifier.

The players have been practicing hard all summer. The team took a trip to New Zealand in September, where they played golf and enjoyed the weather for two weeks. Now, with the season about to begin, Mulflur feels her team is committed and ready.

“There is that commitment,” she said. “They’re hungry, and they do not want the year to end like it did last year.”

Reach reporter Taylor Soper at sports@dailyuw.com.