The field hockey team improved its record this weekend to 3-1, inching head coach Char Morett closer to 300 wins at Penn State and breaking in their new home dig, Astroturf Field.

Both games were immensely similar to one another, displaying Penn State's ability of being an extremely consistent team in the areas of goalkeeping, scoring and some unfortunate casual stick handling in the second half of both games.

Neither Lock Haven nor Connecticut stood a chance against the dominant front line of the Nittany Lions, as they were the first team to score in the first half of both games. Penn State had twice as many shots on goal as both of their opponents and had impeccable corner execution.

"It was good to come out hard and to set the pace of the game," Morett said. "It helped us to keep the momentum up."

Sophomore Shaun Banta scored the first goal on the new field off of an assist from junior Carey Maser early against Lock Haven, setting up the team's 2-1 win. Senior captain Natalie Berrena scored within the first ten minutes against Connecticut, handing the unbeaten Huskies their first lost of the season by a margin of 4-1.

Last week's Big Ten defensive player, senior goalkeeper Megan Akstin, kept the Lions' hopes of a shutout alive

for both games until the second half, where she gave up just two goals the whole weekend, one against each team, respectively.

The two goals scored against the Nittany Lions were due to some lackadaisical stick handling that was evident in the first 20 minutes of both of the second halves.

"The second half was very casual, we have to develop that killer instinct, and I don't think we have that right now," Morett said. "The team feels confident in play but not that sense to put it away."

Both Lock Haven and Connecticut came out strong in the second half, scoring a goal apiece that lost the Nittany Lions their valuable edge.

"I was disappointed in how they scored [during the second half]," Morett said. "We lost little bit of momentum for ten minutes afterward. That forced us to take a timeout and reorganize our game."

The 678-fan base on Sunday kept the team alive, especially during an ugly second half of the Connecticut game. Flying elbows and sprawling players were common as Connecticut desperately tried to regain the lead and hang onto the game. The shoving match ended soon after Berrena leveled a Huskies opponent and Connecticut's Rebecca Helwig received a red card, throwing her out of the game.

"The refs did a good job on the game even though the aggressiveness went on a little longer than I would have liked," Morett said.

The struggle on the field proved the Nittany Lions to be the physically stronger team, and they avenged their 3-1 loss to the Huskies last year.

The team was able to establish a home-field advantage by being undefeated at home so far this season.

"We have this awesome field and awesome fans," Berrena said. "Everyone did great, made adjustments that we needed to make, and it was a total team effort."