Finally, the Penn State women's lacrosse team can stop staring at the blue and gray practice jerseys it has been accustomed to facing. The No. 11 Nittany Lions will begin their season tomorrow against the black and gold of Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

Penn State has had a healthy and productive preseason, and the entire team is anxious to begin play.

"We are really ready," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said. "We are ready to play with something on the line."

No. 15 Vanderbilt has an apparent advantage over the Lions. The Commodores have already played two games this season, beating Mount St. Mary's and losing to Virginia.

Isidor has settled on Cammie Jurkowsky as her starting goalie for this weekend's game. Jurkowsky, who only played a shade more than 40 minutes last season, will be facing a potent offensive attack from the Commodores.

Kate Hickman has already tallied seven goals on the season, and Margie Curran and Jennifer Tapscott both have five goals. Hickman and Curran were both preseason all-American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) players. Hickman has also been the Commodores' leading scorer for the last two seasons.

Penn State's defense in front of Jurkowsky is young and not really game tested. Isidor, however, isn't too concerned.

"When I look at it on paper, it can look scary, but watching them play every day gives me confidence," Isidor said.

What makes this extra important and exciting for the Lions is that Vanderbilt is a conference team, so it gets thrown right into the mix. Penn State also began last year's 12-5 season with the Commodores in a 15-7 win. It proved to be a tone-setter for the team last year, and Isidor hopes that it does the same this year.

"We'll see what we have this year and get to see what we have been working on," she said.

During practice yesterday the Lions looked ready to go, like Isidor said they were. Drills were crisp and run with very few stoppages for corrections.

They were also having fun. When Jurkowsky let a ball go in the net off her stick, she claimed she didn't do it. Isidor asked her who did, to which Jurkowsky replied, "It was Tort," referring to former Penn State goalie Lee Tortorelli, drawing a few laughs from the coaches.

Penn State holds a 5-3 record against the Commodores, and the series has been split two games apiece since they both joined the ALC.