Tonight's game should be an exciting, physical one as the Penn State Lady Icers take on the University of Pittsburgh at the Greenberg Sports Complex at 9:10.

The Lady Icers are excited and ready to go after beating the Ice Panthers 3-1 this past weekend.

The rivalry between these two teams has always made for a thrilling game and tonight's game is no exception. Pittsburgh is known for its physical style of hockey against the Lady Icers and a strong rivalry has developed between the teams.

"Both teams play extremely aggressive when we play each other," Penn State forward Lauren Shaw said.

Perhaps the most aggressive game between the two teams was last year's Mid-Atlantic Women's Collegiate Hockey Association championship game, where the Lady Icers captured the trophy after beating the Ice Panthers 2-0.

One of the reasons that Pittsburgh is so aggressive could be that the taste of defeat still lingers in their mouth. Or maybe it's that they are playing against people they've known for years.

Many of the Lady Icers are from Pittsburgh and have played on teams with some of the Ice Panthers before.

"A lot of the girls have played with each other," coach Billie Willits said. "And now they are competitors."

Assuming that numerous Pitt fans will be in attendance, the Lady Icers are hoping to get a big crowd at their game tonight to cheer them on.

Lauren Shaw, known for her energetic charisma, talked about some of her teammates that fans should keep an eye on.

"Andrea Lavelle, number 11, is the best player I've ever seen," Shaw said. "Ellen Zajko is smooth, she's quick, she's really agile.

And Erica Petrosky, one of our defenseman, is awesome to watch. She's really aggressive."

Lauren added another reason why this game will be a good one to attend.

"It's gonna be extremely aggressive women's hockey and you don't usually see that," she said.

"This is probably the most intense game we play. We love to play Pitt. We are so pumped. They are a great team to play. It's nice to have some close games."

The Lady Icers have been working in practice this week on the things they need to improve on from their games last weekend.

"We need to work on clearing our zone more quickly," Willits said.

"Both the Chatham and Pittsburgh teams forechecked well on us. We need to move out of the zone faster to avoid that."

Willits continued to say that she would like to see the Lady Icers taking more shots and being in front of the net more often.

The Lady Icers realize the importance of the games against Pitt this weekend. The Ice Panthers are in M.A.W.C.H.A and the ACHA with Penn State.

"These two games are important for post season play," forward Kate Specchio said. "We just want a really big crowd to come to the game. We look forward to this all year, playing Pitt at home."

The Lady Icers will be back on the road next weekend. They will participate in the Erie Tournament on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Then it's back home to face Chatam on Saturday, Feb. 10.