In the inaugural Penn State Classic, the Lions knocked off No. 20 Washington on Friday by a score of 3-2 and No. 9 Connecticut, 2-1, on Sunday afternoon.

"Because all the time at the beginning of the year we were traveling to other classics, and we were losing," Wilkins said. "We decided that we have the best record at home, so we figured we might as well have one at home."

Penn State dominated both contests throughout, but the occasional lapses kept both sets of Huskies in the respective games.

Washington, despite difficulties crossing the midfield, scored the first goal of the 2005 season, going over goalie Erin McLeod from the left wing after getting around the last defender.

The Lions responded with the leading NCAA goal scorer from last season. Senior Tiffany Weimer tied the game on a penalty kick, finding the lower right-hand corner with less than two minutes to go in the first half. She added two more in the second half for her third career hat trick and a 3-1 lead.

The Huskies tried to fight Weimer with collective fire, but the Lions doused the flames. A failed header off a corner kick and an errant penalty kick sent any comeback thoughts sailing deep into the State College night.

"Paula, she owed us one. You know, Penn State hadn't beaten us yet," Washington coach Lesle Gallimore said. "Before the game we were talking and she reminded me of that, and I patted her on the back. I told her, 'There's always a first time. Now don't sandbag me.' It made her nervous I was saying that."

Sunday, the Lions continued to dominate the possession game from start to finish. This time, however, they found the back of the net first. Senior Carmelina Moscato's corner kick found leaping co-captain Ali Krieger six minutes into the game. The junior midfielder's header, combined with the return of All-American senior defender Natalie Jacobs, allowed the Lions to play more aggressively.

Jacobs, who is returning from bonegraph surgery, saw only 15 minutes of action late Friday but returned to the starting lineup for a more competitive UConn team.

"We knew Uconn would be a harder match than Washington so it was just to keep the wear and tear off my knee," Jacobs said.

Following Weimer's fourth goal of the season at 30:08, they were on cruise control, and it appeared McLeod would get her first shutout of the season.

But again, a kick from the left wing by Kristi Lefebvre on a cross-feed from Meghan Schnur put the Huskies within one.

The weekend came down to a single corner kick. McLeod pushed aside the cross a corner from left side, but it found a free Husky lurking in the right corner of the goal box. With the goal unattended, co-captain Lindsay Bach held her ground, heading the ball out at the goal line.

With the Lions eyeing an eighth consecutive Big Ten crown and a first national title run, the Lions realize late-game lapses in attention or assignments are not an option.

"It's winning first balls," Moscato said on stopping the attack as soon as the Lions lose possession. "Winning as a first defender, winning your tackles, they're not able to serve that ball. They're not able to combine to get behind. So I think our first defender pressure has to be better quality wise."

Wilkins said the Lions are not peaking as of yet, which is a good thing, but they obviously prefer not having a loss in the early going.

"I remember coming here last year, just losing, you know, that's something that obviously doesn't happen very often," McLeod said. "We have a really good vibe, and I feel like we're going to go far."