Lions and Gophers and Badgers, oh my!

The Penn State women's soccer team takes to the road this weekend hoping to exterminate a few species of burrowing animals. The No. 6 Nittany Lions (8-2-1, 2-0) will tackle the Minnesota Golden Gophers tonight (7 p.m., Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium) and the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday (1 p.m., McClimon Track/Soccer Complex), as they strive to keep their 13-game unbeaten conference streak intact.

"Minnesota has always been really good at home," said Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer. "They get all fired up."

The last time the Lions ventured into Minneapolis, they suffered a 4-3 loss at the hands of the then-11th ranked Gophers.

This season, however, Minnesota has struggled. The Gophers are 1-2 in the Big Ten so far, and 3-5 overall, and it won't be any easier for them this weekend, as they will entertain the Lions and Big Ten Player of the Week Christie Welsh, who is pacing Penn State with ten goals.

"It's gonna be a battle," said Minnesota women's soccer coach Barbara Wickstrand. "They're very athletic and have great offensive power.

"I think we'll be ready for the challenge."

Wickstrand said knocking off a top-ranked team such as the Lions would give the team's season a big boost, but the team is focusing more on game-to-game consistency.

Farmer hopes Penn State will be able to take advantage of Minnesota's usual 3-4-3 lineup, which keeps only three defenders back to ward off Welsh and fellow scoring threats Heidi Drummond and Stephanie Smith.

"When people play three in the back, we get happy," Farmer said.

Wisconsin figures to give Penn State a different style of play Sunday. The Badgers, who are 7-3 this season and 3-1 in the Big Ten, play a 4-4-2 attack, which will make things more congested for Penn State at the offensive end.

"Wisconsin is probably one of the top two or three teams in the conference," Farmer said. "I told the team this might be our most important game during the first part of the season."

The Badgers are led by goalie Kelly Conway. No, not Kelly Convey, the dynamic forward who scored four game-winning goals last year for Penn State. Conway is a sophomore from Madison who made 11 saves in last Friday's 1-0 upset of No. 24 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Conway's counterpart Sunday may be Lions senior Megan Smart, or possibly junior Emily Oleksiuk, who has been cleared by team doctors to return to action this weekend. Farmer is not quite sure if he's ready to hop back on the Oleksiuk bandwagon, however.

"It's gonna take some conversation from (assistant coach) Zac (Shaw) and Emily to convince me," he said. "I'm probably more conservative than any of the physicians."

Farmer added he was not expecting Oleksiuk to recover from the concussion and broken cheekbone she sustained last week against Cornell so quickly.

"I didn't think I'd really have to think about this, so I haven't," he said, adding the chances of Oleksiuk starting tonight are about "50-50."