After stepping off on the wrong foot in its first two home games, the No. 7 Penn State field hockey team (3-2) will have another chance for redemption when it hosts the Princeton Tigers (0-1) at 6 tonight at AstroTurf Field.

The Nittany Lions began the season at home with two losses to No. 3 Old Dominion and Ohio. With these two losses, the Lions lost their first games ever at AstroTurf Field. Last year's Lions went 10-0 on their new field. The team, however, turned it around on the road, winning three straight games.

Now riding that streak, the team is looking to return home to aveng its two losses and finish off its six-games-in-12-days marathon. No matter how tired the team is, however, this stretch of away games has been very helpful in breaking in the new players and teaching the team how to work together on the field.

"It has been helpful but I think that we need to make sure that we are focused on Princeton and not on what we did this weekend," Penn State women's field hockey Coach Char Morett said. "We are just trying to take one game at a time and focus on the improvements we need to make game-to-game."

The Lions have definitely made improvements from the first two games, especially on offense. After scoring only two goals in the first two games, the team came out against Lock Haven and scored twice. It then went on a tear against Northwestern, netting two goals in the first half and three in the second.

The offense, however, has not been as consistent as Morett would like it to be. Despite returning three of its top four goal scorers, the offense has not played to its ability and has not made enough opportunities or capitalized on opportunities.

"The offense needs to create more scoring opportunities, either by getting more shots off or getting more corners," Morett said. "I would like to see our forwards be a little bit more persistent in that area."

Junior Mallory Weisen, however, has been the shining light of the team so far this season, scoring the game-tying goal against No. 13 Northwestern on Saturday and then scoring the only goal against No. 9 UConn on Sunday. She leads the team in points with five and is tied with three others for the team lead in goals

Her achievements this weekend have not gone unnoticed as she was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week. Morett was quick to commend her on the honor, praising her "threatening straight shot" that defenses and goalies must deal with, especially during corners. Weisen's move to the midfield this season has definitely improved her performance and given her more shots on goal.

The hope is that Weisen's hot streak rubs off on the rest of the team and the Lions play with the consistency and intensity they have shown over the past weekend. Since everyone is back at school, this is their first chance to show off their talent to the rest of the student body and it is a chance they must capitalize on.

"[Coach Morett] always stresses to out hustle, out muscle, and possess the other team and I think that is just what we have to do because we have the talent," Weisen said. "We are a very talented team we just have to show our talent and really show our hustle and our pride."