The worst time to face a team is when it is coming off of a humiliating defeat.

The No. 12 Penn State women's soccer team will face that scenario twice this weekend as it travels to Ann Arbor and East Lansing to take on No. 13 Michigan and Michigan State, respectively. Penn State plays Michigan at 5 p.m. today and Michigan State Sunday at 2 p.m.

Today, the Nittany Lions (7-1-1, 3-0-0 Big Ten) will play the Wolverines (8-2-0, 3-1-0) at the University of Michigan Soccer Field. They will be playing their first game since a 4-0 drubbing by Minnesota. Michigan outshot the Golden Gophers by 16, but couldn't solve freshman goaltender Karli Kopietz. Michigan coach Debbie Rademacher believes that the Wolverines gave up too many opportunities to Minnesota.

"We really controlled play in the first half and had a chance to really take a hold on the penalty shot, but we didn't convert," Rademacher said in a Michigan press release.

It was only the third time that the scoring combination of senior Abby Crumpton and freshman Therese Heaton was held without a goal. Michigan has been shut out two of those times and has lost two of the three games that Heaton or Crumpton has not scored a goal.

"Abby Crumpton is one of the best players in conference so she deserves special attention," Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said. "We have to make sure we limit her dangerous spots, but she will get her opportunities. And because of teams keying on her Heaton may get free."

While the Lions will be concentrating on slowing down Heaton and Crumpton, the Wolverines will be trying to contain senior Christie Welsh and newfound threat Tiffany Weimer.

Wilkins believes that Welsh has been held back by plantar fasciatis, an inflammation in the ligaments in her foot. She believes that she is still playing well and creating opportunities to score, but the emphasis other teams put on stopping her, combined with the injury, have limited her scoring.

After today's game, the Lions will make the short trip over to East Lansing to visit the Spartans. The Spartans' seven victories have all come via shutout -- they are 0-2 when the opposing team scores a goal. Their last game was in Madison against Wisconsin, a 3-1 loss. Their three goals allowed tripled the total the Spartans had allowed coming into the game. Junior goalkeeper Stacy Heller has allowed just four goals in eight games this season and has been a major reason why the Spartans have gotten off to such a great start.

"We are going to put offensive pressure on their backs to make them face their own goal," Wilkins said. "They have won a lot of games with shutouts so we are going to need to counter that with offensive punch."