Oct. 9, 2007
University Park, Pa. - Fresh off its fourth straight victory, a 2-0 win at Indiana on Sunday to improve its Big Ten record to 2-1, the Penn State field hockey team will remain on the road this week but will not have to travel quite as far, as the Nittany Lions will play at Lafayette on Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m.
The Nittany Lions (9-4, 2-1 Big Ten) remained ranked ninth in the STX/NFHCA top 20 poll this week for the third straight week. On the strength of a win over a ranked Syracuse team and the conference win over Indiana over the last week, Penn State moved up to No. 7 in this week's womensfieldhockey.com top 20 poll. Penn State will be looking to extend its winning streak to a season-long five games and will also be looking to win its 10th game of the season for the 30th straight year, which is the current longest active streak of 10 or more wins in the country.
Lafayette (4-7, 1-1 Patriot League) is coming off a win over archrival Lehigh this past weekend. The Leopards are the only team from Pennsylvania to have defeated Penn State in the last 12 seasons, as that came in 2003 in Easton, Pa., a 2-1 win for the Leopards in overtime. Penn State has currently won 22 straight games against teams from Pennsylvania since that defeat in 2003 and has won 55 out of the last 56 contests against in-state competition dating back to the 1995 season.
Penn State holds a 12-1 advantage in the all-time series between the Nittany Lions and Leopards. This will be the sixth straight year that the teams have met. Penn State has won the last three games, all by shutouts. In fact, Lafayette has scored just two goals against Penn State in the last five meetings, both of which came in the aforementioned 2003 meeting. In the 13 all-time meetings between the two schools, Penn State has outscored Lafayette 53-7.
Mallory Weisen and Britney Long have had the hot sticks for the Nittany Lions as of late as both have recorded goals in the last two games and three of the last four. Weisen has recorded the game-winning goals in each of the last two games and now leads the Big Ten with five game-winners this year. Long has recorded a point in four consecutive games as has Jen Long, who has assists in each of her last four games and has set a new career high for assists in a season with nine.
After wrapping up their brief two-game roadtrip on Wednesday, the Nittany Lions will return home for a crucial Big Ten matchup on Sunday when they host Michigan State at noon. Sunday will be Think Pink Day to promote breast cancer awareness and will also be senior recognition day.