The Lady Ruggers learned some lessons this past weekend. The first one being that the women still have a lot of work to do.

The Penn State women's rugby team lost to Princeton and UVA at the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union championships in Virginia.

They came out slow, allowing Princeton to score in the first 10 minutes of the game. This consistent problem of sluggish starts is something that the Lady Ruggers realize they have to fix.

"We've tried different things," junior Kelly Evanovich said. "We still haven't found anything to work for us right now. We need to learn to relax. To just go in and have fun."

The Lady Ruggers finished the game with an 18-12 loss. Both of the trys scored by Penn State, however, were credited as hard work by the whole team.

Stef Glecos came through with two conversions. Sophomore Devon Boyle scored the first try.

"It was a hard fought game," Boyle said. "Princeton came out really, really hard. We made some mistakes that we kind of paid the price for. It was a rough weekend for us."

In the last 10 minutes of the game, the Lady Ruggers put the pressure on and had some opportunities to score a try.

The game against UVA was also a close one, with UVA edging past Penn State by a score of 15-10.

The thought that still echoes in the minds of the Lady Ruggers is that they should have won.

"A lot of people were upset," Evanovich said. "We had the opportunity to win both of those games. We didn't play to our full potential and we made a lot of mistakes."

Boyle added that Coach Pete Steinberg made it clear to his team that he knows they can play better, but was happy to see that they realize their weaknesses.

"We all really understand that we have a lot of work to do," Boyle said. "It really showed our weaknesses."

The Lady Ruggers found themselves in the same position last year when they lost both of the MARFU games. However, they went on to win the national championship last season and are hoping that history will repeat itself.

Helping the team prepare for the playoffs is Jim Sullivan, who conditioned Stanford when it won the national championship. Boyle said that although the Lady Ruggers have endurance, the team has been letting themselves get pushed around and feel very beat up after the games. Sullivan will be working with the team on strength training.

The small Penn State team will need all the strength they can muster when they take on Navy in their first game of the Sweet Sixteens.

"I think our team has an issue with them psychologically," Evanovich said. "We psych ourselves out sometimes. Some people may be like that and some may not, but we have to try our best against them."

Being more aggressive is one thing the Lady Ruggers plan to add to their game. Even with the losses over the weekend, the women were able to keep a positive attitude about their abilities.

"I think we are feeling pretty good," Evanovich said. "A lot of things need a lot of work. We are a little anxious right now and on our back feet a little, but it's hard to say right now how we will feel in the future."