After its best tournament of the season, the Minnesota menâÄôs golf team can feel a bit more optimistic about its NCAA tournament hopes heading into this weekend.

The Gophers pushed their record to 42-50-3 by finishing in fifth place at the Florida Atlantic University Invitational this past weekend, and for the first time in nearly three years, the team had three golfers finish in the top 15.

The Gophers hope to continue their recent success when they head to Baton Rouge, La., this weekend to participate in the 12-team LSU National Invitational.

The Invitational includes a competitive field of teams that will undoubtedly challenge the young Gophers squad. Three of the teams participating in the Invitational are ranked by Golfweek.com, including Big Ten foes No. 13 Iowa and No. 43 Michigan.

 Minnesota will be led by senior Donald Constable, who leads the team in most of the major scoring categories, including stroke average (71.52), rounds played (21) and low 18-hole score (66).

Constable has finished in the top 20 in every tournament he has participated in, and in the process he has become the anchor for Minnesota, which has only two seniors and no juniors.

Among the youngsters, however, redshirt freshman Jon Trasamar has emerged recently.

Trasamar was the top GophersâÄô finisher this past weekend with a fourth-place finish, his career best. It was the second consecutive weekend that the Blue Earth, Minn., native has been one of the teamâÄôs top-two finishers.

The Invitational will be played at the par-72 University Club Course from April 2-3. The Gophers will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.