BASEBALL

vs. Northwestern

3 p.m. today, doubleheader at 1 p.m. tomorrow and 1 p.m. on Sunday, all at Beaver Field

As the mid-way point of the Big Ten season approaches the Penn State baseball team is searching for a mustneeded win.

The Nittany Lions have lost six straight games including a pair of mid-week defeats to Maryland and George Washington.

The Lions, who entered last weekend tied for second, now sit at seventh, but a strong performance against Northwestern would go along way in bolstering its standing for the conference tournament.

The Wildcats are coming off a 36-run output in a game on Tuesday against Chicago State. David Gresky and Anthony Wycklendt combined in that game for 13 runs scored, 19 runs batted in, and 13 hits.

Penn State baseball coach Joe Hindelang said he's hoping that the Wildcats got all their hitting out of their system during the week.

"Northwestern is a very good team and top to bottom everyone is strong," Hindelang said. They just scored 36 runs, hopefully they have no hitting left."

Even if the Wildcats hitting is silenced their pitching staff has been strong recently. The one-two punch of Dan Konecny and J.A. Happ has been consistent for much of the season. Neither of the two have an outstanding record but both have an earned average of around three. Konecny is 3-3 with a 2.51 ERA and Happ is 4-3 with a 3.09 ERA.

Hindelang said he isn't worried about his player's confidence.

"It takes a long time to lose," Hindelang said, "and you can get it back with one good effort."

-- By Rob Spruck

FRISBEE CLUB

Pennsylvania Sectional Tournament

9:30 a.m. tomorrow, 11 a.m. Sunday at the Flower Garden Fields

After a commanding victory in the Spring Phling Tournament two weeks ago, the women's ultimate Frisbee club, Isis (25-6), will once again take to its home fields tomorrow and Sunday to compete in the Pennsylvania Sectionals Tournament. Haverford, University of Pennsylvania, Bucknell, Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore will compete against Isis for four slots and seeding in the Metro East Regional Tournament, to be held May 3-4 on the campus of Princeton University. Round-robin play will begin tomorrow morning, leading to the single-elimination bracket on Sunday afternoon. Isis will be playing familiar teams, as it has met nearly all of them in previous tournaments this year. "We've beaten everyone in our section that we've played so far," co-captain Karen Schulte said. "So we're expecting to do pretty well."

-- By Jenny Vrentas

MEN'S GOLF

Today and tomorrow at the FirstEnergy Collegiate Windwill Lakes Golf Club

The Penn State men's s golf team will compete in the Kent State-hosted FirstEnergy Collegiate tournament, which will take place at the Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna, Ohio, today and tomorrow.

The 54-hole competition will feature a competitive field of Mid-Atlantic Conference talent, including consistently potent Kent State, Miami, Ohio State and defending conference champion Toledo. Penn State will be without sophomore Mark Leon, who has been hampered by a back injury. Junior Jonas Hyden will compete in Leon's place. The Penn State starters stayed after practice this week and put in some good time on the course, preparing them for the intense match. Due to the team's recent success in the FirstEnergy contest, golfer Jim Fuller believes that Penn State will fare well at Windmill Lakes. "We finished right near the top of the pack last year," Filler said, "and we expect to do the same." The weather thus far has been mediocre at best for Penn State, with last weekend's Princeton Invitational cancelled due to snow and heavy rain. The five-day forecast looks equally imposing, with rain expected and average temperatures in the mid-50s. With a distance of 6,936 yards, the par-70 Windmill Lakes golf course is very long, said Penn State men's golf assistant coach Kirk Kayden.

-- By Dan Good

MEN'S LACROSSE

at Rutgers

7 p.m. tomorrow

The No. 18 Penn State men's lacrosse team (5-5, 2-2 ECAC) will look to add to its winning streak of three games tomorrow against No. 8 Rutgers (9-2, 2-0 ECAC) as the Nittany Lions return to ECAC conference play.

After Wednesday's 10-7 victory over intrastate foe Bucknell, the Lions have amassed three consecutive wins and maintained their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth.

The Scarlet Knights sit atop the conference and have yet to be beaten during ECAC play.

Last week, Rutgers had two players garner conference awards. Senior Jeff Duca was named ECAC Offensive Player of the Week after netting the game-winning overtime goal against then-No. 4 Syracuse. ECAC Rookie of the Week honors went to goalie Greg Havalchak. Continuing to lead the Penn State defense are senior captains Chris Garrity and Matt Zappia. The duo was integral in holding Bucknell to seven goals and will try to contain the Scarlet Knights' offensive threats.

-- By Rob Riva

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

at Northwestern

noon tomorrow

The regular season is rapidly drawing to a close for the Penn State women's lacrosse team, and with it, the Nittany Lions' window of playoff opportunity.

As a result of its lackluster effort against the University of Pennsylvania last Tuesday, Penn State finds itself in a position where it may need to win every game remaining on its schedule to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. The road to the playoffs begins tomorrow when the Lions (6-6, 3-0 American Lacrosse Conference) travel to No. 20 Northwestern (6-5, 1-3), their ninth contest away from home in 11 games. The intra-conference matchup will be Penn State's ninth of what will be 11 games against Top 20 teams this season.

After a performance against Penn that Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor deemed "unacceptable," the Lions will have to step onto the field against the Wildcats with the most intensity it has all season or face the suddenly realistic possibility of missing out on a playoff berth.

Isidor said that the team's main point of focus heading into its matchup against Northwestern will be regaining the fire and poise that carried the team through a successful four-game stretch from March 28 to April 7. During that span, the Lions posted wins against No. 12 North Carolina and No. 19 Johns Hopkins and nearly knocked off Loyola and Maryland, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country, respectively.

"We've played with the big dogs," freshman Shari Maslin said. "We've played with the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country. We just need to bring that caliber of play into every game."

-- By Thomas Bassinger

MEN'S RUGBY

vs. Bowling Green

2 p.m. tomorrow at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California

The Penn State men's rugby team will look to keep its national championship hopes alive as the team travels to Palo Alto, Calif, to compete in the National Sweet 16.

The No. 10 Ruggers face Bowling Green tomorrow and, if they win, will advance to the Elite 8 to play the winner of the Harvard/Utah match.

"We have come to a point in the season that if you lose, you are done," Penn State men's rugby coach Terry Ryland said. "So if you keep winning you can make it to the Elite 8, the Final Four, and then the National Championship." Ryland said.

Bowling Green plays atough game and matches up very well with Penn State.

"Bowling Green is going to present a lot of challenges for us," he said. "If we can match them stride-for-stride, scrum-for-scrum, we can put them away and be successful."

The Ruggers will be at a slight disadvantage as freshmen Justin Hundley and Michael Petri and forwards coach Don Ferrell are in France with the United States Under-19 National team. "We feel supporting your country is just as important as representing your school," Ryland said.

-- By Brent Miller

MEN'S TRACK

Nittany Lion Relays

10 a.m. tomorrow at the Nittany LionOutdoor Track

Coming off the tough USTCA series track meet last weekend, the Penn State men's outdoor track and field team will compete in a relatively more relaxed atmosphere, the Nittany Lion Relays, tomorrow.

Cornell, the University of Richmond and Mount St. Mary's are some of the teams that will be participating this weekend.

Unattached athletes will also be competing in the non-scored meet.

Most teams use this meet as a tune-up for the Penn Relays, which is probably the biggest outdoor meet of the season.

Despite the fact that the meet is a non-scored and a Penn Relays preparations meet, the Lions will not be resting.

Instead, they plan to move around to compete in different races.

Another purpose of the meet is to obtain regional qualifiers.

At the moment, Penn State has 13 regional qualifiers.

"We are moving forward in a positive direction," Penn State men's track and field team coach Harry Groves.

-- By Nkrumah Makinwa

WOMEN'S TRACK

Mt. SAC Relays and Nittany Lion Relays

1 p.m. tomorrow at Mt. San Antonio Community College, Walnut, Calif. and 10 a.m. tomorrow at the Nittany Lion Outdoor Track

The Penn State women's outdoor track team will split up again this weekend as the distance runners will run at home while the sprinters and throwers head for the Pacific coast.

The distance runners, who would be most affected by the travel time and jet lag, figure to have the best chance of earning NCAA regional qualifying marks by running at home.

"We're looking to improve our current marks this weekend," Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "[Mt. SAC] is a very big invitational."

The Nittany Lions have had to face less-than-ideal weather conditions for the past few meets and some coopera tion from Mother Nature could help the team earn more NCAA regional qualifying marks.

The Lions will face some familiar conference foes out in California. Top Big Ten athletes such as Indiana's Rachelle Boone and Illinois' Chequetta Bearfield will compete against Penn State juniors Connie Moore and Chi Chi Aduba in the 100-meter dash.

This weekend's meets fall in between two high profile races -- last week's Sea Ray Relays and next week's Penn Relays -- and should provide a good measurement of the team's progress.

"This is a great thing for our team," Alford-Sullivan said. "It will give us some good opportunities to run against some strong competition."

-- By Derek Levarse