Games against the University of Maryland-Baltimore County used to be a walk for the Penn State men's lacrosse team.

Before losing to the 12-7 last season, the Nittany Lions won 13 straight games against the Retrievers, but this season the No. 18 Lions will be the underdogs. UMBC will come in to Saturday's game at 2 p.m. on the Bigler Deso-Turf field ranked No. 11 in the nation, with a 3-1 record (1-1 in the ECAC) with wins over ECAC rival Navy and No. 14 Cornell.

"We'll definitely have our hands full," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "They've got a very good lacrosse team. They're one of the top teams in the ECAC right now."

The Retrievers' sophomore goalie Steve Cusa stonewalled the Nittany Lion attack last season, allowing just seven goals with 10 saves. Also returning is face off man Brian Lawton, regarded by coach Thiel as one of the best at his position in the country. Since Lawton allows the Retrievers to control the ball, UMBC will try to wear out Penn State's defense with long possessions.

"It's going to be a ball control oriented game," Thiel said. "We're going to have to make the most of all of our possessions, and keep the pressure on their defense. If we play like we did against Notre Dame (in the 10-8 loss to the No. 5 Fighting Irish last month) I think we'll be in good shape."

The Lions defense will be facing another inverted offense against UMBC. Defensive coordinator Lars Tiffany will be using two different schemes to combat that. Last week against Cornell, he tried double teaming the ball behind the cage, in what he called a more "pro-active approach," but with the field conditions hindering his team's ability to do that, he switched to a more reactive style, using his midfielders to cover man-to-man. Tiffany expects to use both styles against the Retrievers Saturday.

"Our defense against an inverted offense is still a work in progress," Tiffany said. "But our middies played great when we switched to the more reactive style defense, and I think if we have a good field Saturday, we'll be able to defense it well."

Goalie Matt Vallone comes off a 19 save effort against Cornell, and has been spectacular of late. In UMBC, he plays the team that knocked him out of his starting job last season. He gave up seven goals in 20 minutes against the Retrivers last season.

"I think he's definitely going to be ready to rise to the occasion," Thiel said. "He's capable of keeping us in the game against any team in the country. Whoever gets named All-American goalie this season is not going to be a whole lot better than him."

Offensively, Thiel is looking for the midfielders to step up their scoring. The production has risen since the early season, with two goals each by senior Michael Kern and sophomore Rob Booth against Cornell, but the Lions are looking for more improvement there.

"We've definitely been picking it up," Kern said.

"But we've still got a long way to go. We have to create a lot more offense on our own."

The Nittany Lions are undaunted by the underdog's role, and have come to feel like they are always in a situation where they are fighting for respect.

"We've come to feel like we're the underdogs in every game we go into," junior attacker Will Driscoll said. "We haven't been in the NCAA tournament yet, so we know most of the teams we play have that edge on us. We know we can compete with anyone, but we feel like every game is a fight for respect."