You've just beaten the No. 1 team in the country. What are you going to do now?
How about win your last game of the season, against No. 13 Iowa, and then focus on the Big Ten Tournament (being held Nov. 8 to 11 at Ohio State).
The No. 6 Penn State field hockey team had its best performance of the season against No. 1 Old Dominion this past Sunday.
Watching these girls battle through tough games against top ranked opponents, I have become completely in awe of their work ethic and desire to win. I had never seen a performance like the one they had against ODU.
It was almost as if they had become 10 times faster in the span of just one day of rest.
They were consistently beating ODU players to the ball, making sprinting breakaways down the field, and just plain dominating in every aspect of play.
They were possessed -- possessed with the desire to win and prove that the previous Friday's loss to No. 2 Michigan was just a fluke.
After the game, the players were all so pumped from the huge win that they had something to say about everyone and everything. Makes a reporter's job easy.
Can the Nittany Lions carry this same intensity into Sunday's game against conference rival Iowa? I think they can.
For starters, there's the importance of this being the last game of the regular season.
A win over a ranked opponent will provide the momentum that the Lions need to carry into the Big Ten Tournament.
With Michigan having run the table in the Big Ten and already winning the regular-season Big Ten title, the Lions still have second place to play for. (Side note: Michigan lost in overtime to the same team that Penn State upset the very next day -- ODU).
There are several scenarios that could pan out in this final weekend of the regular season: No. 5 Michigan State has also wrapped up its seeding at No. 2. The Spartans' last game of the season will be played at Ohio State on Saturday. If the Spartans come away with a win, which is not guaranteed, against the Buckeyes, they make things much more difficult for the Lions. If the Buckeyes win, third place is there for the Lions to lose.
A Penn State win over the Hawkeyes would give them a tie with Michigan State for second place, but Penn State's 3-1 loss to MSU would give the Spartans the edge.
A Penn State loss to the Hawkeyes would put them in a tie for third place, possibly a three-way tie with the Hawkeyes and the Buckeyes, if the Bucks are able to pull out an upset over Michigan State.
Iowa has some tough wins over quality opponents. The Hawkeyes' first game of the season saw them upset Wake Forest -- a team that crushed Penn State 6-1, later in the season -- 1-0. The beginning of the season and the middle of the season are quite different times to be playing certain opponents, but I'm sure Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett and her cohorts will be looking extra hard at tape from that game.
Trust me, all of the Lions are quite aware of the situation they face this weekend. This entire team wants nothing more than to win and as evidenced from their 14 wins this season, four over ranked opponents, they know how to win. But to them, I'm sure they will treat the aforementioned situation as nothing more than just another game.
And I'm quite sure that the Lions will not allow their big win over the top ranked team to bring their confidence level up too much. Upset wins over Connecticut and North Carolina earlier in the season have not inflated their heads and stopped them from going out to play their game in the same way they always do.
So remember: when you come out to see the season finale on Sunday at 1 p.m. Bigler Field, cheer loud for H-Train (as my other, not better, half refers to Heather Conroy), Jilly Bean (Jill Martz), et al., stay late, and keep in mind which Penn State team has the best chance at winning a National Championship, or at least a Big Ten Tournament Championship.
These girls really do deserve plenty of support and recognition.
