The No. 7 Penn State field hockey team has been waiting for this weekend all season long.

It was one of their main goals at the beginning of the season to walk out of the Big Ten Tournament on top and they're walking in with a pretty good chance of making that happen.

After finishing No. 2 in the Big Ten, the Lady Lions (15-4, 5-1 Big Ten) kick off their Big Ten tournament weekend by facing Indiana (1-11, 0-6), who finished last in the conference, at 10 a.m. today. In all likelihood, Penn State will move on to face the winner of a contest between No. 19 Michigan State (No. 6 Big Ten) and Iowa (No. 3 Big Ten) at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Should the Lions make it as far as the finals, they will more than likely play No. 5 Michigan (No. 1 Big Ten) at 1 p.m. Sunday. All games will be played at Phyllis Ocker Field on the Michigan campus.

The Lions are excited about having Indiana as their first round opponent since they demolished the Hoosiers 9-0 at the beginning of October.

"Whenever we played Indiana before, I don't remember how much we beat them by, but we beat them by quite a bit," forward Maegan Galie said. "Playing Indiana is going to help us get to the second round and that could get us closer to winning."

Most of Penn State's younger players saw action in the blowout against Indiana and, since three of Penn State's top players will have to watch from the sidelines throughout the tournament, that experience will most likely help them in their first-round game.

Forward Kiley Kulina, midfielder Neilye Stoner and back Mandy Robinson were all sidelined late in the regular season due to injuries and probably will not play unless Penn State makes it to the tournament's championship game.

Penn State coach Char Morett has been playing junior Kate Bender and sophomores Erin Kingsbury, Nora Graber and Cenna Wilkerson in place of the missing starters. All four saw action in the Indiana game and Morett said she expects them to play a key role in today's game against the Hoosiers.

"They did get a lot of playing time earlier in the season, but that was at a different level than what we're going to get now," Morett said. "They're going to need to push it up a notch to keep up with this level of competition. I think they're going to respond well and this is a time when our depth is going to pay off."

Although a win in the first round is almost a given, the second round poses more problems for Penn State.

Prior to losing Stoner, Kulina and Robinson, Penn State barely got by Michigan State and had just a little more breathing room in a win against Iowa.

Robinson, Kulina and Stoner all played major roles in the wins but now that they are out of action, a win against either team might be much more difficult.

After Michigan's 6-0 walk through Big Ten play, the Wolverines will probably be one of the teams in the title game. Should Penn State make it that far, the Lions will have the memories of a 1-0 home loss to Michigan looming over them.

Not only that, Penn State will be playing the Wolverines on their home turf.

But Penn State is not the same team it was when it lost to Michigan two weeks ago.

The Lions have devoted the past couple weeks to rebuilding the team after the injuries. Several of the players said the team is regaining some of its former strength and should a rematch occur, they feel they will be much better prepared to play Michigan.

"I think we're getting back to playing like the Penn State team that was playing so well at the beginning of the season," Galie said. "We're regaining a lot of confidence, not just as a team, but also as individuals."