Penn State exorcised the demons of a four-game losing streak last Saturday when it knocked off then-No. 3 Loyola Greyhounds 10-9.

This week, the No. 10 Nittany Lions (4-6) will have to exorcise last year's demons when they travel to Scully-Fahey Field on Sunday to take on No. 18 Dartmouth (6-3), the same team that ended Penn State's season in last year's NCAA tournament.

The Big Green defeated Penn State 12-11 in last year's regular season before knocking off the Lions 9-7 in the first round of the last season's postseason. With Penn State in need of as many wins as possible if they hope to make the postseason, the Lions can't get caught up in playing the revenge card or worrying about results of the past.

"It's in the back of your head," senior Alyson Shand said, referring to last year's losses. "But it's a game for this season. It'd be nice to beat them, but more importantly for this season."

Penn State captured its most important victory of the season at Jeffrey Field last Saturday when they controlled the Greyhounds for all 60 minutes of play. The victory brought sophomore Katie Jeschke national Player of the Week honors for her five-goal effort. It will be interesting to see if the Lions can use such a victory to ignite the engine of the win wagon.

"We're not interested in making it one big game that defines our season," Penn State head coach Suzanne Isidor said. "We're hoping that it's going to be one game that starts us on a winning streak. We're not going to be happy with just a win over Loyola. We need to come back with a win over Dartmouth."

In last year's contests, Dartmouth jumped out to early leads and dictated the tempo by holding and controlling the ball.

"We need to be concerned about getting off to a fast start and controlling the tempo of the game," Isidor said. "We can't wait until 10 minutes into the game to start playing."

If Penn State is able to command the game and leave Dartmouth with a victory, it'd be only the second time all year the Lions would be able to corral back to back victories. But the futility of the past may have been put to rest after Penn State lifted the monkey off their back in extra smooth fashion last week.

"I think Loyola was obviously our best game of the season," Isidor said. "But I don't think our best lacrosse has been played. We played great against Loyola but we can take our game to a higher level."