Although the national championship is just more than two weeks away, the Penn State women's rugby team is already on a mission to score its second title in as many years.

However, before they get a crack at a chance to repeat, the Lady Ruggers will have an opportunity to check out some of the competition at the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) Championships this weekend.

Penn State will open the MARFU Championships in a semifinal matchup against powerhouse Princeton University at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

"Princeton is a very good team," Lady Ruggers captain Maggie Reed said. "They are a very fleet team. They rely heavily on speed and their backs. We expect them to be good at handling and fielding the ball."

The match will be a rematch of last year's national championship final, which Penn State won.

The winner of tomorrow's match will play in the title match at 10:45 a.m. Sunday against the winner of the Virginia/Navy match.

The Lady Ruggers earned the chance to compete this weekend by defeating Virginia Tech 48-0 last Saturday. That victory guaranteed the Ruggers a bid to the National Championships in Gainesville, Fla., April 16.

With a seed already locked up, Penn State will use the MARFU Championships to prepare for the national championships.

"The MARFU Championships doesn't have as much weight once you qualify for the National Championships," Reed said. "But our goal is to still win this tournament."

Reed said the MARFU Championships serves as a thermometer for the team.

"It is the first time we get a chance to see the other teams in our region," she said. "It measures how far we have come and how much higher we need to go to succeed."

A win will certainly boost the Lady Ruggers' confidence, but it is not necessarily a good indicator of how the team will do at the national championships.

Last year, the Lady Ruggers placed third in the MARFU Championships, but went on to claim the national title.

"We won't measure how we did this weekend by if we win, but how we perform and how much we improve," Reed said. "If we play with the talent, determination and heart that we have, we can't come away anything but winners."