If the Penn State women's soccer team hopes to keep its three-game winning streak alive this weekend, it's going to need to play with the tenacity displayed this past Sunday against No. 24 Maryland.

Terrapin fans touted the match as their chance for revenge on Penn State after it had knocked Maryland out of the NCAA tournament in the second round last year, 2-1. And it's fair to say that the Terrapins hold no soft spot in their hearts for the Nittany Lions (3-1) as that meeting was the second time in just four years Penn State had the pleasure of ending Maryland's season.

But the Terps wouldn't get their way as forward Tiffany Weimer scored what later turned out to be the game-winning goal in the fourth minute of a match that ended 3-0 in favor of Penn State.

The series between Penn State and Maryland dates back to 1996 and now stands at 5-3 Lions. The teams met twice last year and both times the Terrapins fell to Penn State.

The Lions will be on the road this weekend to face No. 22 Southern California and No. 2 Santa Clara. These two games pit two more ranked opponents against the Lions who have already taken on three thus far.

Penn State women's soccer assistant coach Melissa Ramsey said that there are a few things the squad will work on this week in practice to prepare, but the match against Maryland was the first of the season the team played together well throughout both halves.

"We're just worried about ourselves first and we won't practice for [Southern California and Santa Clara] specifically," Ramsey said. "We just need to work on making our team better."

One thing that would make the team better would be reducing the amount of offside penalties.

The Lions were called offside nine times on Sunday. Ramsey said they needed to adjust to the speed of the game better.

Penn State women's soccer coach Paula Wilkins said that her team has some defensive holes they'll need to fix before the upcoming matches.

"We need to have more competing in the back and I think we need to better understand our defensive shape," she said.

Wilkins added that scoring opportunities have been created so far, but her team will work on finishing in the box during practice.

But technical training alone won't be enough to down Santa Clara who boast former players like Aly Wagner and Brandi Chastain, now key members of the U.S. women's national team.

Wilkins said she hopes her team will carry on the competitive edge she saw displayed against Maryland.

"I expect [our team] to come out and fight, be passionate, and implement the things we've talked about in training this week and in the past two weeks."

Amanda Brown will also need to make another stellar performance as she did against the Terrapins when she stopped a pair of hard shots late in the match. She put up her first shutout of the season.