You might think that the Penn women's lacrosse team is merely looking to give defending national champion Princeton a run for its money today.
But the Quakers aren't planning on just giving the Tigers a challenge -- they are looking to win.
"We can definitely win," Penn senior Christy Bennett said. "This is a big rivalry. You always have to be careful when you are favored in such a heated match."
Indeed, Princeton was a good team last season, going 19-1 overall and undefeated in the Ivy League, en route to a national title.
But these aren't the same Tigers.
"They are not the same team as last year," Penn coach Karin Brower said, noting that the Tigers lost to Ivy rival Yale. "That was good for our confidence, because it shows us that they're beatable."
Bennett agrees.
"This is the most beatable Princeton team any one of us has ever seen," she said.
Princeton graduated seven seniors at the end of last year, including three All-Americans.
Its most notable loss was Lauren Simone -- a first-team All-American, Princeton's leading scorer and the 2002 NCAA Tournament MVP.
Don't be fooled though, the Tigers -- currently ranked seventh in the nation and the preseason top-ranked squad -- are still the favorites to come out on top in this matchup.
Princeton returns two of its three first-team All-Americans -- Rachael Becker and Theresa Sherry.
Sherry is currently tied as the Ivy League's second-leading scorer with 30 goals.
Becker -- an Ivy League Honor Roll of the Week selection -- anchors the squad on defense.
She is currently tied for second in the Ancient Eight in ground balls (44) and leading the league in caused turnovers (40) -- six ahead of number two Bennett of Penn.
If the Quakers can get the ball around Becker, it will be equally hard to put it by Princeton goalie Sarah Kolodner.
Kolodner -- who was undefeated last season after stepping into the Princeton net in its third game -- leads the conference in goals against average (6.44).
But it's not these few individuals that makes Princeton such a formidable foe -- it's the entire team.
"They just have a lot of threats," Brower said. "They are a very experienced team."
On offense, the Quakers will have to find ways of stopping the top-shooting Ivy League squad.
"We need to play good team defense," Brower said. "They are very fast, and we need to stop them from getting fast breaks. We need to make them run instead of pass."
"We've been practicing sliding earlier to double the ball," Bennett said. "This is because they have the skill to shoot on either side."
With the Penn Relays approaching this week, however, the Quakers will not be able to play their home game at home. Instead, the team will be forced to play at Villanova Stadium.
Though the stadium has artificial turf, like Penn's home of Franklin Field, the playing surface is still quite different.
"The biggest problem with Villanova is that they have a different turf," Bennett said. "Franklin Field's is like a carpet over concrete. Their turf is more like fake grass. It actually has blades and the dirt is made up of ground-up tires. It's much squishier. It doesn't have as much bounce."
To familiarize themselves with this new playing surface, the Quakers scheduled practice yesterday at Villanova.
While the team is anxious to take on its arch-rivals, the Quakers are upset that they can't play their most exciting game of the year on their own campus.
"It's a little frustrating," Brower said. "In the future, we should be moving Princeton to another week."
