The Penn State field hockey team is looking to carry over its momentum from Wednesday's victory against Temple into its two intrastate matchups this weekend.

The first test will come at 7 tonight at Bigler Field, when Penn State coach Char Morett's squad will take on Lafayette (2-3).

The second game of the weekend will be played at Finnesey Field in Philadelphia, as St. Joseph's (3-2) will host the 19th-ranked Nittany Lions at noon Sunday.

The Lions (2-4) opened up the offensive floodgates on Wednesday, pouring on four goals in a shutout victory over the Owls. Redshirt freshman Shaun Banta led the assault, netting two goals on six shots.

Morett was very pleased with the overall team effort, citing improvement in ball control and transitions from defense to offense.

Banta, freshman Kiersten Wood and sophomore Annelise Legel are making their presence felt on the offensive front.

"Kiersten gets more confident every day as a freshman," Morett said. "Shaun has a knack for scoring -- she's dangerous around the cage."

Heading into tonight's game, Wood is sporting a perfect shooting percentage -- scoring two goals on just two shots. Banta leads the team in goals, with three.

Missing from action against Temple was Karin Grap. The co-captain has the potential to be a major contributor to the Lions' offensive efforts, but Morett said the senior forward is capable of playing better than she is currently.

Instead of inserting Grap into her usual starting role Wednesday, Morett opted to play a less experienced forward in sophomore Kristen Miller.

Even though the offense appears to be making strides, the defense and goalkeeper Megan Akstin have been consistently solid through the team's first six games.

Akstin, in fact, has been solid enough to garner the Big Ten defensive player of the week award. The junior transfer from Albany owns a minuscule 1.32 goals against average, and has two shutouts on the season.

The Lions seem to have Lafayette's number, winning nine of 10 meetings.

No such blemishes exist on Penn State's record against St. Joseph's, which has lost all seven games they've played against the Lions. Last season's contest was a lopsided 12-1 thrashing by Morett's crew.

The current stretch of six games, which began on Wednesday, will be high time for this young Lions team to get hot and string some wins together. None of the team's next five opponents are currently ranked, with Princeton and Ohio State garnering the most acclaim of the bunch.

This current stretch of the season is going to show how much the Lions have grown and how prepared the team is to take on the challenges of the upcoming Big Ten season.