The team with sticks, skirts and attitude opens its home schedule this weekend.

For the Penn State field hockey team (1-0) -- a team that had its national championship dreams taken away at the end of last years' season -- getting back and taking what is rightfully theirs may be months away, but laying the groundwork for a successful season starts with week one.

The Lions hope to continue their winning ways this weekend as they play their first two home games of the 2003 season.

The team is coming off a big road win over an always-tough opponent in the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs. The Lions won handily 6-2, and senior Timarie Legel earned Big Ten Field Hockey offensive player of the week honors.

"This weekend will be helpful to get us back to the form we were in against ODU," said assistant coach Jon O'Haire. "We had good consistency against them and that is something we will need to keep up."

The team opens with a night game Friday at 6, when they take on the West Chester Golden Rams. Although the Golden Rams are not a big division one school, the Lions are not looking past them.

"West Chester is a very structured and organized team," O'Haire said. "They are very well coached and they execute on each side of the ball. They had a rich history and were national contenders, but now they simply can not keep up with funding, they are a sound team."

The last time these two teams faced off (Sept. 22, 2002) the Lions won in a rout 7-0. The Lions lead the series 25-15-1.

The Lions will look for the upperclassmen to continue to score and lead the team. Senior Timarie Legel (40 goals and 9 assists in her career), and juniors Amanda Eckert and Mary Schaefer all scored in the season opener and will be eager to find the back of the net again this weekend.

Defensively, the Lions look to become more balanced.

"We had great individual performances against ODU, but overall we need to play more structured and consistent defensively," O'Haire said.

The lions hope to preserve a winning tradition at Bigler field, where the team has gone 46-11 overall and at one point had won 25 games in a row.

"It is very exciting to be playing at home, where we went 9-1 last year, especially on a football weekend," O'Haire said. "There is already a buzz going around campus and we'll get more fans coming out who normally don't, which is nice."

Looking to Sunday afternoon's game, the Lions take on the Connecticut Huskies.

The game should prove to be a little tighter as the Huskies are coming off a successful year as well, having finished first in the Big East.

"The Huskies have a strong program, one of the strongest in the nation," O'Haire said. "They always come to win, it is not only a strong rivalry but also a preview to the NCAA tournament as well."

In the two teams' meeting last year, the Lions up-ended the Huskies 2-1. Penn State holds a 13-9-4 series lead.

The team departs from the friendly confines of University Park, playing its next three games on the road.