With regional competition only two weeks away, the Penn State women's club water polo team has been practicing for any opponents it may face.

The team is particularly aware of James Madison, the University of Maryland and the University of Pennsylvania. James Madison is a fast team, but Penn State feels it can match its speed.

Maryland won the division last year and prevented Penn State from going to nationals. Although Maryland may be psychologically tough, the University of Pennsylvania may be the bigger challenge.

"They set up their offense well and play smart, tough defense," team member Lyndsay Smith said.

She said Penn State matches up well with the Quakers. They have a well-rounded team without any star that draws all attention. Penn State has been continuing to work on its overall conditioning and developing its basic skills.

Conditioning has been especially important in the sport because players in the pool can get tired rather easily. Plenty of players, though, are available off the bench to relieve the starters.

Penn State women's water polo coach Julia Carlson said the team has been working on catching, shooting and passing.

"We're learning how to work together as a team," Carlson said. "We only have two seniors and not a lot of tournament experience."

Penn State has specifically devoted a lot of time recently on the six-on-five or man-down defense.

It resembles the power play in hockey in that one team loses a player. The players also switch things around to a man-up situation in order to work on their offense.

Last week the team had a scrimmage with the men's team.

"The guys may be stronger than us, but we use our own style of play to help even things out a bit," Smith said.

When goalie Caitlin Yerkes hears rumors about other teams who may be threats she tries not to think about it.

"I like going into it with a clean slate," Yerkes said. "It's better that way."