Heather Conroy didn't get what she expected last week.

The fifth-year senior on the No. 8 Penn State field hockey team expected last week to be a period of rest and recovery, as a bruised and battered Nittany Lion team had its longest stretch of the season without a game, nine straight days.

What Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett had in store for the team however, was totally different. The Lions (12-3, 3-1 Big Ten) spent the week enduring some of their toughest practices of the season, receiving only Friday and Saturday off.

"We had a pretty intense week," Morett said.

"We worked on improving our tempo and strength and conditioning. We're still focusing on playing consistently for 70 minutes."

Slow starts have been a problem for the Lions all season, and they will look to come out of the gates firing at 6 p.m. tonight when the team takes on Bucknell (8-4) at Bigler Field. Penn State is in the midst of a six-game homestand, which began last weekend with Big Ten wins against Ohio State and Northwestern. Going into the final five games of the season, the Lions are in position to control their own destiny within the Big Ten.

Currently, Michigan sits atop the conference with a 4-0 Big Ten record. Penn State and Michigan State are close behind, each with one loss in the conference. The Lions still have to play the Spartans and Wolverines in their final two Big Ten games of the season. Morett stressed the importance of staying focused on the task at hand.

"This time of the year, you tend to start looking ahead, but we can't do that," Morett said.

In Bucknell, the Lions face a team that won seven of its first eight games. The Bison have since struggled. In one of its bigger wins of the season, Bucknell defeated Lafayette, the team that handed Penn State its first loss earlier in the season.

The Lions will need to fight the urge of looking ahead to their game against Michigan State this weekend or they could once again get something they don't expect.