Their postseason hopes may be long gone, but they sure are not playing like it.

The No. 17 Penn State men's lacrosse team (6-5, 1-4 ECAC) comes into tonight's contest at 7:30 at Jeffrey Field against Bucknell (5-6, 4-1 Patriot League) coming off their best all-around performance of the year.

The Nittany Lions routed Rutgers 15-3 Saturday night and are full of confidence after their big victory.

"We can take a lot of confidence into tonight," co-captain Will Driscoll said. "Hopefully we can stay on our game and continue what we did (against Rutgers)."

In that game the Lions jumped all over the Scarlet Knights early, establishing a 6-0 lead after one quarter. From there they never looked back, something they must duplicate tonight.

"We need to get out to an early lead and jump on them," attacker Luke Ogelsby said. "We need to put four quarters together like we did (in our last game)."

That game brought the Friendship Cup back to PSU for the second straight year.

However, duplicating a 15-3 game is easier said than done against a talented Bison squad who beat the Lions 10-6 last season.

"Last season wasn't even a game," Lions head coach Glenn Thiel said.

He does not want them to fall into the trap of being overly confident and complacent.

"Coming off of the Rutgers game they will be fat and happy and they will think that they will beat them this time," Thiel added.

It is a serious trap that Coach Thiel really wants to avoid.

Confidence seems to have some of the players in its grip however.

"They have had good teams in the past," Ogelsby said. "I don't think this is one of their stronger teams."

With finals less than a week away and a showdown against No. 1 Virginia just around the corner one could say the Lions have some other things on their plate besides the Bisons.

"We may be looking ahead to Virginia too much," Thiel admitted. "That is what ticks me off. They are No. 1 and all of that, but we have to take care of business and get a winning season by beating Bucknell."

One advantage the Lions have is the fact the Bisons have not played since their April 14 victory over Colgate and could easily be rusty. The Lions on the other hand are roaring to get back out onto the field after Saturday's big win.

"We don't need to practice," Thiel said.

"We will be ready to go (tonight)."

In order to guarantee a winning season the Lions will have to play very similarly to Saturday's game. They need to establish an early lead and must play smart with the ball. This is a winnable game for the Lions, but thus far this season, wins have proven to be elusive for this talented team.