Middletown, PA- The Penn State-Harrisburg golf team heads into the spring season expecting big things.  Runners-up at the NEAC championship the last three years, the Lions will look to break that string in a positive way, and hopefully lift themselves to their first conference title in school history.

And why not, considering they come off their best fall season in the five year history of the program.

The Lions won a pair of tournaments in the fall, both their two-day home invitational as well as at NEAC foe Rutgers-Camden.  They also posted a second-place finish at Susquehanna University's fall event, and a fifth-place showing at Elizabethtown College's tournament.

Those big efforts gave the Lions a per-event stroke average of 318.1 over five events, the best number they've ever had in a fall segment, with an unofficial record of 40-16-1.

Among those 40 "wins" were triumphs over teams that appeared in the NCAA Division III championship last year, like Rutgers-Camden (three times), Messiah and FDU-Florham.

But that's all window dressing for what lies ahead – a spring season that gets underway with a first practice date of Mar. 15.  The Lions' first tournament is set for Mar. 23 when they play at the Links of Gettysburg in Gettysburg College's spring event.

The Lions are led by junior Max Hrip (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley), who sports a stroke average of 79.0, currently good for second in the NEAC.  The reigning Penn State-Harrisburg Scholar-Athlete Award winner, Hrip was a first team NEAC all-star last year.

Right behind Hrip in the PSU-Harrisburg lineup are a trio of seniors, all lineup mainstays since their freshmen years – Brad Goss (Annville, PA/Palmyra), Geoff Morrison (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt) and Shane Woodman (Marietta, PA/Donegal).

Morrison, whose 75 won medalist honors at the Rutgers-Camden event, is currently third in the NEAC in scoring average with a 79.3.  Both he and Woodman were first team NEAC all-stars last year.  Woodman (80.6) and Goss (81.8) are both in the top 10 in the conference in scoring average, and Goss's two-day total of 146 was the low-score at the Lions' fall tournament.

Freshman Ryan Foell (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown) and junior C.J. Geis (Harrisburg, PA/Bishop McDevitt)both saw plenty of action in the fall.  They'll be joined this spring by the teams' newest addition, sophomore Ryan Hartnett (Inglewood, CA).

Penn State-Harrisburg will play seven events this spring, culminating with the NEAC Championship, April 26-27.  For the first time, the Lions will host the event, at Dauphin Highlands Golf Course.

A victory there will give the Lions their first conference title, along with a berth in the NCAA Division III Championships, May 10-13 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C.