A lion of a task awaits the Penn field hockey team.
Traveling to State College, Pa., tonight, it will take on No. 8 Penn State (6-2), which is in the midst of a six-game winning streak.
Penn (2-4, 1-1 Ivy), now in the third matchup of a six-game road stretch, most recently fell to Cornell over the weekend.
But the Quakers, who are 6-17 all-time against the Nittany Lions, are looking forward to tonight's match-up against a ranked team, their second of the season.
"They bring out the best in us because they're so controlled, and it's not rough or anything," Penn coach Val Cloud said.
Assistant coach Jeremy Cook hopes the game will be a learning experience.
"We've had trouble at one end scoring and at the other end being tough as nails in our own defensive end," Cook said. "Sometimes challenges like this will help bring that out because we'll really have to rise to the challenge."
And stopping the powerful Penn State offense will prove to be quite the task. The Nittany Lions have taken 99 shots in eight games and scored 23 goals, an average of 2.84 goals per game.
"They score a lot off corners," Cloud said. "They spend a lot of time on that and execute them well."
This puts added pressure on the Penn defense and goalie Liz Schlossberg to keep the Nittany Lions at bay.
"Liz will have her work cut out for her, and she'll get a lot of action," Cloud said.
Leading the Penn State offense will be junior forward Shaun Banta, the current Big Ten offensive player of the week and a 2005 All-American selection. She has seven goals on the season and is averaging two points per game.
She notched a hat trick during Penn State's most recent win, a 6-0 pounding of West Chester. Teammate Allison Scola added two of those goals.
The game will boast another benefit for Penn defender Nicole Levi.
Levi, a State College native, is excited to play close to home.
"My parents and four siblings are coming," Levi said. "It'll be the first time my parents will be able to see a game."
Levi will also take the field against her old club teammate, Penn State forward Britney Long.
Whatever the outcome, the Quakers will be looking past this game to better themselves for the rest of the Ivy schedule.
"That's our objective - to give it our best and play our best and the results will take care of themselves," Cloud said.
