The Atlantic 10 Conference field hockey playoffs begin next Saturday at Rutgers. The following weekend the NCAA Championships start. The No. 7 Lady Lions should play an important role in both tournaments.

But before the team (14-2-1) can pack its bags to travel, it must play two final regular-season games. First up is West Chester at 2 Sunday afternoon at Lady Lion Field. They the Lady Lions venture to Ursinus for a rescheduled game Monday.

On paper, the two games should be easy wins because both opponents are unranked. But in recent games the team has come out flat, allowing the opposition to take control. Against New Hampshire, the Lady Wildcats scored less than two minutes into the game and just two days ago against Princeton, Penn State had to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win, 5-4.

This is quite a change from earlier in the season when the Lady Lions dominated their opponent from the onset. On the way home from Princeton, the team had a meeting to discuss the recent lack of intensity.

"Some of the players were saying, 'Only two more games, let's go' (on to postseason)," junior Chelle Frates said. "But I said, 'No, we have to take it one at a time.' If we do poorly, we could drop down out of it."

Assistant coach Shelly Behrens agreed.

"If we start thinking about the A-10s or NCAAs we're not going to do well Sunday," she said.

She said the meeting will help the squad and that the current situation is a matter of resetting goals and rethinking philosophies.

"Lately, we've been coming out with a slow start," she said. "We need to set smaller goals like getting a corner instead of, 'Let's get a goal.' Then we can build on those successes and the winning will take care of itself.

"(Against Princeton), we found a way to win and good teams will find a way to win. I think now we're playing not to lose. Maybe we should risk losing for a chance to win. If we take chances, we should to be able to take it to West Chester, Ursinus or whoever else we play."

Right now, the matchup with West Chester is top priority. The Lady Golden Rams are only 6-6-3, but have played better than their record indicates. They dropped a tough 3-2 decision to No. 5 Providence after taking a 2-1 lead into intermission. They also defeated Temple, a team that tied Penn State earlier this fall, 2-0.

In 1986 the Lady Lions defeated West Chester, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The next year, West Chester got revenge with a 2-0 victory, once again in the first round of the NCAAs.

"They'll be out to play the spoiler," captain Kathy Klein said, "but they're probably not as strong as they were in the past. We need to step on the field and in the first few minutes give 100 percent. If we lose the next two games, it could severely hurt us in postseason. We need the confidence; we can't be questioning anything."

A rash of injuries is one of the reasons for West Chester's .500 season. Co-captain Denise Zelanak probably will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury and Christine Wuchter, a freshman with two goals, has sat out several games as well.

On the healthy side, Nancy Wright leads the squad with five goals and Beth Barrell has contributed four goals and three assists.