A win is a win no matter how sloppy the game is played out.

The Penn State field hockey team is moving up and moving on as its streak of wins increases to 11 as it recorded its sixth shutout of the year against the Syracuse Orange yesterday, 3-0.

Even though Penn State (11-1) was again the first to draw blood as it scored within the first minute of the game against a freshman Orange goalkeeper, the team still struggled to open up with strong intensity.

"We came out a little slow, but we got that early goal and that gave us a little confidence," junior forward Annelise Legel said.

Legel increased her consecutive points per game to seven, having scored the first goal of the game. She passes up Maegan Galie who last earned a point per game during a six-game stretch in 2000.

"I attribute that to my teammates, actually," Legel said. "They are always setting me up and always giving me great passes."

The Nittany Lions racked up another non-conference win against an unmatched opponent but still have a few things to work on before they tackle 13th-ranked Michigan this weekend and prove how good their statistics say they are.

Once again, Penn State showed signs of coming out slow but still ended up taking the first wave of momentum in the game. Despite the win, Penn State failed to outscore their opponents' shot total, as it has in the last five games.

"[We were] not playing with the same intensity that I'd like us to," Penn State field hockey coach Char Morett said. "We scored that first goal and then sort of laid off a bit. I'd like to see us develop more of a killer attitude and put a team away, but they were good. They didn't let us put it away."

The team seems to be off-and-on from week to week with their passing game as well. Syracuse (4-6) took advantage of an off-night keeping the Lions contained at midfield for most of the game instead of in the goalie's face where they are usually found wreaking havoc.

"I think that we got a little confused in our marking with our system; we were holding back instead of stepping up," Morett said.

The Lions recorded their lowest scoring game in five games due to lackadaisical stickhandling and rare lackluster ball advancement.

"I think they need to get in front of the forwards and start taking away the passing lanes," Morett said. "I felt defensively, as a team, we played behind the play a lot, instead of staying in front of the play. We weren't intercepting as much."

Let's get physical

The Nittany Lions are in the process of making a name for themselves as being a very physical team. Two Syracuse players were benched due to injuries inflicted upon them during the game.

Let 'em play

Both Penn State and Syracuse substituted their starting goalies for the benches halfway through the game. For Syracuse it was failure to stop the ball and Penn State it was a sign of all is well. Jen Beaumont replaced starter Megan Akstin for the Lions.

"[Jen] is healthy, her rotator cuff was sort of sore and she just got cleared to play this week so we'd like to get her playing time," Morett said.