Without looking at the schedule, no one would ever know that the third-ranked women's lacrosse team is playing the first- and second-ranked teams this weekend.

"It's in the back of my mind, but more that that it's just important that we have a good weekend," midfielder Ann Kolongowski said. "Even if we were playing someone who wasn't ranked, we'd still want to stay focused and play a full 50 minutes like we did at Temple."

The Lady Lions felt everything clicked Tuesday against Temple, and practices since then have been geared toward keeping that momentum, not toward No. 1 William and Mary and No. 2 Virginia.

The team will play at Virginia this afternoon and at William and Mary tomorrow afternoon.

"We know that the teams are good -- who's ranked No. 1, 2 or 3 is not important, because they change from week to week," midfielder Mary Beth McNicholas said.

"Right now I don't really see them as being one and two," defender Elena Brazer said. "They're all equally as good; they're all huge games. I just see them as two big games."

Up to now, the Lady Lions have played teams which like to run. Both William and Mary and Virginia play a spread-out, passing game similar to Penn State's, although William and Mary is more likely to fast break.

"We haven't played a team yet that plays our style," Coach Julie Williams said. "This will be a real test."

Like Penn State, William and Mary starts mostly seniors. Attacker Cheryl Boehrimger leads the team with 24 points, followed by midfielder Lydia Donley (15 points) and attacker Joanie Quinn (14 points).

"They're a fast-moving team; they send players all over the place," Williams said.

Virginia's leading scorers are Cynthia Mathes (14 goals, four assists), Elaine Jones (nine goals, one assist) and Jeny Flingluff (six goals, four assists).

Kolongowski said the Lady Lions played six-on-six games during practice this week to prepare for Virginia's style of play. The Cavaliers like to send cutters from behind the goal cage straight through to the eight- and 12-meter arcs.

"We concentrated on denying the pass coming in there -- if we cut the offensive player off so they can't make the catch, they won't have a chance to shoot," Kolongowski said.

Williams said although she gives the her team specific players and plays to watch for from each team, she concentrates on improving her team's style of play from game to game.

Now that the Lady Lions have played their style throughout the game, Williams wants them to work on playing even more slowly -- stalling if necessary -- during the final minutes of the game.

"We weren't real patient (against Temple), and we were lucky there were only three or four minutes left and we scored again," Williams said. "But I have a feeling that in these games it's going to matter."