It's not often that a team, having knocked off two No. 1 squads, is looking to rebound. Yet, that is the case for women's lacrosse this weekend.

No. 2 Penn State left yesterday for Annapolis, Md., for the ACC/ALC Challenge to take on No. 11 Maryland and No. 5 North Carolina.

Coming off a 6-5 loss Tuesday to the unrankedTemple Owls, the Nittany Lions have now beaten two teams who were then No. 1 and followed those upsets with subpar performances characterized by poor execution.

The event, hosted by Navy, pits the Lions against two opponents they've failed to take out in years. Penn State, winless against the Terrapins since 1991, are 0-15 over that time span.

"They're always big games for us," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said. "We've struggled against Maryland the last couple of years losing close ones."

The last close one came a year ago, as Penn State, mired in a string of one-goal losses, fell 12-11.

As for the Tar Heels, the Lions have struggled historically as well but they have one thing on their side. The last time the two schools faced each other on a neutral site, Penn State prevailed in a 9-7 contest in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2003. The Tarheels won the last meeting by a 13-4 margin.

Normally, such a weekend would require an uninterrupted week of preparation. The game with the Owls made that impossible, however.

The Lions have not had an opportunity to practice this week, as they've only watched game footage from Tuesday's game at Bigler Field. The videotapes did not reveal anything too surprising.

The lack of execution killed them.

Although the Lions had three goals waved off against Temple, they dropped passes and squandered several opportunities, as the high power, transition-based offense failed to click.

"There were very simple things to change," Isidor said. "We need to execute better, especially on the attacking end."

Without solving the problems on the field, Penn State is forced to recall the memories of earlier this season, when the offense clicked seamlessly.

"We know we can execute better because we have executed better," Isidor said, alluding to wins over Princeton and Virginia, teams ranked No. 1 in the country at the time that the Lions knocked off while on the road earlier this season.