With two big rematches against last year's Final Four teams looming this weekend, the defending national champion Penn State women's rugby team welcomes the challenge.

"It should be a good test," senior Maggie Reed said of the upcoming matches against Princeton and Navy, the two teams the Lady Ruggers defeated en route to their 2004 women's Division I title.

The Lady Ruggers will play Princeton, last year's runner-up, in a friendly at Millersville on Saturday, but weighing more heavily on their minds is the league match against Navy, their semifinal foes of a year ago. As Reed said, "Navy's always a good measure."

Another good measure for the team will be the women's performance while playing on back-to-back days.

Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said he plans to play more of his players than usual, using the A-side as well as the B-side in different situations.

"We've had it pretty easy [so far]," he said of his team, which easily won its last match 58-3 against Salisbury.

Despite the tricky opponents they will face this weekend, the Lady Ruggers said their game plan remains unfazed. Their mindset in the past has been to use what they're given on the field from their opposition and the referees, and form a strategy from there. They will play their own style of "intelligent rugby, not strategy rugby," as Reed coined their approach.

The game plan may be the same as that for any other match, but there was an inevitable excitement surrounding the team at their practice on Wednesday night as the players prepared in the mud puddles and bitter cold.

Even first-year players with no prior rugby experience cannot help but look forward to the weekend. Rookie sophomore Pam Coutts said that she is really excited.

The Lady Ruggers will take to the pitch on Sunday, attempting to repeat their 24-8 defeat of Princeton and 20-8 win over Navy in last year's Final Four. As expected, Steinberg and his team said they hope to see a crowd gathering to root on one of the most successful teams here at Penn State.