Neither the weather nor two gritty Florida soccer teams were welcoming for the Penn State women's soccer team as it opened up the regular season with a double header in the Sunshine State.

The No. 8 Nittany Lions (1-1) fought through two nailbiters against top-25 opponents to earn a split for their weekend. They were edged out by No. 21 Florida, 2-1 in Saturday's season opener before defeating No. 15 Florida State by the same score on Sunday.

The game with Florida was delayed an hour and a half due to inclement weather. When play resumed, Florida's forward Cherry Pickman opened up scoring with a goal in the 38th minute. The score was the only one registered before halftime.

Early into the second half of play, the Gators added to their lead thanks to goal by senior Crystal Frimpong. But Penn State midfielder Joanna Lohman answered just five minutes later, netting a cross from freshman Tiffany Weimer.

Lohman's goal would be the end of scoring in the match, though.

"I have to give a lot of credit to Florida," said Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins. "We were sort of their statement game."

Wilkins said that her team had a slow start in the first half and attributed some of the Lions' struggles to the lack of preseason competition. Florida entered the match with two preseason exhibitions already under its belt, whereas Penn State played none.

Wilkins also said she was pleased with the second half of play as her team began to control the pace of the game and fire more shots on goal.

"We just weren't emotionally ready for this one," Wilkins said.

The following day, Penn State faced the Florida State Seminoles for the first time ever. The Lions had to battle the Seminoles and torrid weather conditions to ensure a win.

Florida State began scoring in the match with a goal from Amber Tollefson in the 16th minute. The goal was the result of a quick restart in play.

Wilkins said Penn State played better out of the gates than it had the previous day and that the opening score was deceiving.

It didn't take long for Penn State to answer. In the 37th minute, senior Leigh Hamilton found Lohman with a pass off a restart to tie the game.

Senior captain Heidi Drummond knocked in the winning goal in the 70th minute of play with an assist from Weimer.

Sophomore goalkeeper Amanda Brown recorded her first win of the season with two credited saves.

Wilkins said that despite going down 1-0 early against Florida State, the Lions' ability to change the momentum of a fast-paced game was important to win.

The Lions will need a little work defensively, however.

"There are some holes in the defense that we need to work on," Wilkins said, "I'm unhappy that we haven't fixed them sooner."

Wilkins added that this was a tough double header to open up with but said it was good for her team to face strong competition early.

Penn State has its first home match of the season at 5 p.m. Friday at Jeffrey Field against Harvard.