With the No. 1 seed under its belt already, the Penn State women's rugby team is feeling pretty sweet about its chances to repeat as national champion as it travels to the University of Florida this weekend for the Sweet 16. The No. 1 Lady Ruggers will square off against No. 16 seed and fellow Mid-Atlantic region member West Chester University in the first round tomorrow morning.

The winner of tomorrow's matchup will advance to the Round of Eight and face the winner of the Ohio State-Vassar College match. That winner will travel to Stanford University on April 29 to participate in the Final Four.

Penn State is one of five teams from the Mid-Atlantic region to participate in the Round of 16, with four of the teams being the top four seeds in the tournament. No. 1 Penn State is followed by Virginia, Princeton and Navy, respectively.

Penn State has faced four of the teams in the tournament already this year, scoring victories against Navy and Ohio State in the fall and Princeton and Virginia this spring.

"Competing against a team already allows us to get to know their style of play," Penn State captain Maggie Reed said. "We will be able to learn from our earlier matches and exploit their weaknesses and the weaknesses of teams that play a similar style of play."

The Lady Ruggers earned a spot in the Sweet 16 with their Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) quarterfinal victory against Virginia Tech on March 26.

They locked up the No. 1 seed by defeating Princeton and Virginia in the MARFU Championships two weeks ago.

Reed said the team's depth has played a big part in its success thus far and will continue to in its quest for a repeat national championship. Wednesday night, Penn State's B-side defeated Juniata College's A-side, 56-0.

"We really don't have a B-side," Reed said. "It's more like having two A-sides. A victory like Wednesday's allows us to go into the Sweet 16's with 27 players and feel confident putting any one of them on the field at any time."