Going into Saturday's meet against Rutgers, Penn State women's swimming coach Bill Dorenkott knew that it would be tough to come out with a victory. He said his teams' opponent was one of the toughest Rutgers squads that he had seen in his tenure at Penn State. His suspicion was correct.

Penn State women's swimming and diving team lost to the Scarlet Knights 129-112 in a very competitive meet. The tough schedule for the Nittany Lions may have been a factor in the sluggish performance.

"I think they are beat up," Dorenkott said earlier in the week. "We've suffered our fair share of injury and illness this year."

Freshman swimmer Abby Hoisington agreed that the rigorous schedule, from a fall training program to the steady flow of away meets, may have worn down the team, but she thinks this kind of conditioning will be helpful down the road.

"We're more focused on the end of the season. Like winning at the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA's, but we don't like to make excuses," Hoisington said.

While the team's ultimate goal may be to win the Big Ten and perform well at the NCAA championships, there is no doubt that the loss to Rutgers hurts. The No. 12 Lions were coming off a decisive victory against St. Bonaventure at home and in order to prove themselves at the end of the year, Penn State swimmers want to swim consistently all season.

Freshman Kaitlin O'Brien said that she feels Penn State had the most talented team in the Big Ten. That as long as the team works well together, it can accomplish its goal of winning the Big Ten.

"I want to be a top-10 team," O'Brien said. "I really think we just need to support each other."

Freshmen like Hoisington and O'Brien have greatly benefited from the leadership of the team's seniors. Sarah Haupt, Patty Murphy and Amberle Biedermann have tried to prepare their young teammates for the rigors of a full college season.

"We have really strong upperclassmen," Hoisington said. "We're really lucky to have the group of girls we do. All of the underclassmen feel like we can go to any of them."

O'Brien felt similarly about her teammates' ability to make everyone better. "Their leadership skills are unbelievable. You can talk to them about anything."

Team unity and cooperation will be an important factor as the season continues. The schedule does not get any easier with two meets in the next week. Penn State will travel to Kenyon College on Thursday and then swim against Indiana and Ohio State over the weekend.