After a puzzling end to the 2005 season, The Penn State field hockey team has more than enough incentive and drive to make a significant impact in its conference this year.

The No. 7 Nittany Lions (3-2) are determined to get back on track and start their run for a second straight Big Ten Championship. The team brought a three-game losing streak into 2006 after its 17-game winning streak was snapped in late October. Instead of entering the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments with some dangerous momentum, the team had to deal with an untimely skid after it fixed its sights on a near-perfect season.

"Last year, we were just like, 'What happened?' During those games, we weren't outplayed," Penn State coach Char Morett said. "We didn't have great starts to the games, we sort of fell behind and then caught up, but I felt that we had the chances to score at the end of the year. It was those games that we just couldn't score. This is a different group, and they need to find their personality as a team. It's different every year."

Penn State had a golden opportunity to forget about last year with five games in eight days to start the season. It did not help that its first match was against No.4 Old Dominion. Although the opportunities were there for the taking, Penn State could not capitalize, losing its first game, 3-1.

The Lions lost their next game 2-1 in overtime against Ohio University. At that point, the Lions were forced to regroup and find a way to break what had grown to a five-game losing streak dating back to last year.

The remedy came in the form of increased energy against Lock Haven. Consistency, speed and a change in attitude led to a 2-0 Penn State victory.

"It was that determination to get a win," senior co-captain Annelise Legel said. "We were tired of losing and not playing to our potential."

That little bit of momentum gave Penn State the ability to start off strong during its weekend against two ranked opponents in No. 13 Northeastern University and No. 9 Connecticut.

The passing and intensity in both games displayed a lot of improvement, and the results followed suit. After falling behind to Northeastern, Penn State came out firing and scored five unanswered goals to come away with a 5-1 victory.

The following day, Penn State faced a Huskies team that had a specific gameplan to upset the Lions. But an early goal from junior Kiersten Wood proved to be all the Lions needed to secure the 1-0 victory. The win also marked Morett's 350th career win, joining an elite group of only four other field hockey coaches. Morett made it clear that the achievement was not a big deal within the big picture. The important thing from the weekend was the turn around of the team's play.

"Everything has improved so much since our first game," senior co-captain Carey Maser said. "We just keep getting better and better at passing, aggressiveness, intensity, knowing where each other are, just everything. The cohesiveness of the group has gotten better and will continue to get better."

Winning three games in a span of four days is a tough task for any team, but it was exactly what this team needed. Penn State came out with a plan that was executed perfectly.

"We have a title to defend," Legel said. "We want to win the Big Ten again, and fare better in the tournament, and then in the NCAA tournament. Those are our long-term goals.

"We have goals that are different for every game and different goals for every practice. Overall, we just have to defend that title."