The Lady Ruggers played what Penn State women's rugby coach Pete Steinberg said was "the best game of rugby that a Penn State team has played since I've been their coach."

The team was in Orlando, Fla., this past weekend to take part in the Sweet Sixteen tournament. They took on Illinois and Navy in two games that clearly showed the Lady Ruggers were the better team.

Penn State devoured Illinois with an outstanding 30-0 shutout. Then, they trampled Navy 34-15.

Penn State dominated the first half of the Illinois game, but was only able to lead at halftime by a score of 5-0. The Illinois defense held strong in the first half to keep Penn State scoreless, until freshman Kathy Doyle crossed the goal line with a 40-yard run.

Second half play was all Penn State, as they maintained possession of the ball for most of the 40 minutes. Leah Ackerman, Emma Holland, and Stef Glecos each put one try on the board, while Doyle added two more of her own.

"What we did in the Illinois game was we starved them of possession," Steinberg said. "We played defense only three or four times the whole game, which is basically unheard of."

The Lady Ruggers had expected the Illinois game to be harder than it was. Steinberg said Illinois looked good in practice and he had thought they would be very, very tough.

"I think it was kind of surprising, but more of relief," sophomore Devon Boyle said of the shutout. "We finally played the way we knew we could play. It was like, 'that's the way it is supposed to be.' We knew we had it in us."

The Lady Ruggers went on to defeat Navy in their next game. Navy has been a problem for Penn State in past years. The team usually proves unbeatable, but the Lady Ruggers changed all that this weekend.

"I think we only ever beat Navy in games that really count," Steinberg said. "We beat them twice in the last four years, once in the Final Four and once in the Sweet Sixteen. We peak for those games."

Penn State started off the game with two tries, courtesy of Doyle and Maria Filippelli to take an early lead. Navy retaliated with a penalty kick. Halftime saw Penn State leading 17-8 and an injured Kelly Evanovich going off with a knee injury.

Second half play was dominated by the Lady Ruggers, who only allowed Navy to win one scrum the entire half. Kirsten Aerts replaced Evanovich and played extremely well for the team.

Doyle scored a hat trick for Penn State and Rachel Hammond and Heather Kantorek added a try as well to secure win.

When asked how it felt to finally defeat Navy, Boyle said, "That was the best experience of my life. We didn't just beat them, we totally kicked their butts. The feeling went across the whole team, we were so pumped. It wasn't just us, it was the Penn State alumni. We finally played Navy like we should have."

Senior Christie Winkler agreed.

"I didn't realize how good we were doing all weekend," she said. "I just thought that they (the opponents) weren't playing well, but they were. We just made them look bad."

The Lady Ruggers have two weeks to prepare for a match up with UVA in the Final Four.

"I think if we play our best, we will win both games at the Final Four," Steinberg said.