"We did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves."

Those sentiments stated so eloquently by Charlie Sheen in the Oscar-winning Vietnam War drama Platoon were echoed by the defending national champion Penn State women's rugby team Saturday.

Because of disciplinary problems, the Salisbury State team was unable to make the trek to sunny and warm Happy Valley to play against the Nittany Lions. But that didn't stop the team from finding some type of team to play.

The Lady Lions decided to battle themselves, pitting the "A" and "B" level squads against each other.

"The Salisbury State team got in trouble and lost travelling privileges so they couldn't come," team secretary Marcel Gawronski said.

Extra practice time is always of the essence for any team and so Penn State decided to take advantage of this opportunity.

Although the Lady Lions would have much rather played against another university.

"It's always hard to play against your own team," club president Maria Fillipelli said. "But it went pretty well today."

That is, it went well for the one side; the defending national champion Penn State "A" squad.

Although scores really do not matter in scrimmage games, the "A" squad dominated the younger, less experienced "B" team, opening a 43-0 lead at halftime.

A major risk taken in playing no-holds barred intra-squad games is the possibility of injuries.

Luckily for the Lady Lions, only the usual rugby bumps and bruises had to be treated and cared for.

"Everything's okay in terms of injuries," said Gawronski.

The team hopes the offensive prowess exhibited under the blue skies at the rugby fields across from Rec Hall, carries over to next Sunday's match-up against Navy.

On September 16th and 17th the Lady Lions traveled to the University of Massachusetts to play in the Beantown Tournament against Yale, Delaware, and the hated Midshipmen from Navy.

While a respectable second place finish in the season-opening tournament may have been satisfying for some teams, a finals loss to Navy has left a bad taste in the team's mouth.

"They got two lucky breakaways and won by seven," said Fillipelli. "But we pretty much dominated the game."

Rather than fighting themselves next Saturday, the team is looking forward to taking on a different team in Towson State. They will face Navy again October 7th.

"Navy is our biggest rival," said Gawronski. "This is the biggest game of the year."