Women’s golf will close its fall schedule with its first match play tournament of the season.

The Huskies will partake in the Hoosier Fall Invitational 7 a.m. Friday to Sunday in Noblesville, Ind.

When NIU last saw action, Oct. 4-5 at the Diane Thomason Invitational in Iowa City, Iowa, sophomore Lena Gautier tied for first out of 75 golfers.

Gautier’s top-spot finish helped the Huskies finish in sixth place out of 13 teams. Her success marked the first time an NIU women’s golfer tied or finished No. 1 in a tournament since Kim Hunley notched a first-place finish at the 2009 Huskie Classic.

NIU will have to switch its attention to Indiana as the tournament will mark the first time this year the Huskies will have to participate in a match play event rather than the normal stroke play event.

“We’ve been playing match play all week so everybody’s played it, everybody’s familiar,” said head coach Kim Kester. “This past week has been [us] getting [in] the mindset of match play. It’s a different style of play than your regular stroke play, so [we] focus a bit on getting in that mind set of being away and the proper protocols.”

Stroke play is about playing the ball and working to lower an individual score. Match play gives the games a more competitive edge, with each golfer having his or her own opponent to beat.

The Huskies will play 16 holes of stroke play on Friday for seeding, and then Saturday and Sunday they will be getting into the match play portion of the Hoosier Fall Invitational.

“I’m pretty sure everyone on our team has played it, so that will definitely be an advantage for us because match play is so strategic,” said junior Connie Ellett. “So, hopefully that will help us play well this weekend.”

Ellett is hoping the Huskies can return to their September form when they took second place Sept. 7-8 at the Redbird Invitational

“We want to keep up the strong play and finish out the fall strong just like we started it is the main goal,” Ellett said.