With senior co-captain Jackie Lange out for what may be the rest of the season, the Penn field hockey team's offense, which has been sporadic at best this season, will rest on the shoulders of its leading scorer, a junior.
A junior who was just named Ivy League Player of the Week.
Penn forward Liz Lorelli, who has racked up five goals and one assist this season, earned the honor after her two-goal performance last weekend in a 3-0 shutout of Cornell.
Lorelli was also Penn's Athlete of the Week.
"Where would we be without Liz?" Penn coach Val Cloud said. "It's awesome that she earned both these awards."
But tonight, Lorelli and the Quakers (2-3, 1-1 Ivy League) will face what is undoubtedly their biggest challenge of the year as they travel to State College, Pa., to take on No. 8 Penn State.
"I told the team to go out there tomorrow and have fun," Cloud said. "We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain if we come out victorious."
A win against the Nittany Lions (7-1), however, would take a solid game by Penn on both sides of the ball. Penn State's goalies currently hold a 1.19 goals against average, giving up only nine goals in seven games. The Quakers have given up nine goals in the five games they have played.
"Our offense always seems to click better after we score that first goal," Lorelli said after the Lafayette game last week. "But we need to work more on finishing teams in the second half."
Last year, the Quakers managed only one shot -- ironically by Lange, who won't be playing tonight -- in a 2-0 loss to Penn State.
"We won't have Jackie, so we will need a couple of other players to step up and contribute," Cloud said.
The Quakers have witnessed an offensive surge from Lorelli and sophomore Cara Calahan, who started for the injured Lange against Cornell. While the Quakers seemed to play well using the revitalized lineup, Cloud knows that Penn will need an even better offensive effort against Penn State's stingy defense.
"We're going to be working on more scoring," Cloud said. "We need a little more depth in that area."
The Quakers will not just have to worry about their own offense, however.
Although Penn State comes in scoring the fifth-most goals per game in the nation, its offense has been inconsistent.
Last Sunday, the Nittany Lions broke their program record for goals in a single game in a 12-1 blowout over Saint Joseph's.
Yet, this same offense could only muster one goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to Lafayette, a team the Quakers lost to in the final minute.
"They are definitely beatable, it just depends if they come and play or not," Cloud said. "They have the capability of scoring a lot of goals, and we're going up to face them at their place."
Penn sophomore goalie Amanda Jacobs will look to repeat her nine-save performance against the Nittany Lions a year ago, in which she only let in two goals.
Cloud is also not counting out goalie Elizabeth Schlossberg. The freshman suffered a head injury in last week's game with Lafayette, but is expected to be ready for tonight's game.
"We have two great goalies going up against one of the best offenses in the nation," Cloud said. "We will see which comes out on top."
