Imagine that it is your college hockey debut: you score five goals, record an assist and your team dominates. Sound like a dream? Not if you are Jessica Waldron.

The No. 15 Penn State Lady Icers (1-2, 0-0 ECWHL), who are without five of their top six scorers from last season, began their 2005-06 season with an impressive 8-1 victory over Syracuse University on Oct. 9. Behind great play in net by sophomore goaltender Gena Goldbaum, freshman forward Jessica Waldron led her team on an offensive explosion by contributing six points in her collegiate debut.

"She's obviously a great player," Lady Icers coach Michael Brinton said. "She is our leading scorer and probably will be all season."

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead with a goal 11 seconds into the game. The quick strike could have proved disastrous for a young Penn State squad on the road, but the team maintained their composure and evened the score with Waldron's first career goal at the 12:54 mark of the first period.

After that, the Lady Icers never looked back. Four assists from sophomore co-captain Lauren Johnston, and a goal each from junior Captain Ashleigh Kinder, junior Stephanie Doyle and sophomore Chelsea Sacks, complimented Waldron's production and turned the game into a laugher.

Despite the victory, Brinton was not satisfied with his team's overall performance. "We played a good game against a weak team," he said. "You could see us just standing around, waiting for something to happen. And you can't do that if you want to win."

Brinton's concerns turned into reality when Penn State took on the Washington Lady Capitals U-19 team last weekend. The strong amateur squad, composed of high school and first- or second-year college players, took both games in impressive fashion.

The Lady Icers were on the wrong end of the blowout this time as Washington dominated both sides of the puck and won the first game, 10-1. Saturday's rematch didn't go much better as Penn State was dropped, 7-2.

After suffering back-to-back lopsided losses, the Lady Icers may be reeling as they come into this weekend's home conference opener against No. 8 North County Community College (0-1, 0-1) at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion. Game 1 will be tomorrow at 10:15 p.m. and Game 2 will be Sunday at 10:45 a.m.

North County CC, who is new to the ECWHL and coming off a loss to No. 7 Massachusetts-Amherst in their season opener, has a new coaching staff this season that may present some problems for Penn State.

"Anytime a team changes coaching staffs, they change philosophies too, and that puts us in a situation where we might not know what to expect in certain situations," Brinton said.

But don't push the panic button just yet. Brinton and his staff are certain that his team can come together and rise to the challenge of facing a good team and winning.

"I have never seen a team, male or female, bond as quickly as this team. They are always together, whether they are at practice or shopping downtown. They like being with each other off the ice and they feed off each other on the ice," Brinton said. "We have a great team chemistry and that is what you need to be a good team."