After a rough start to the season, the No. 9 Penn State women's soccer team finally established a winning streak.

The Nittany Lions defeated Harvard 3-2 on Friday and Northeastern 2-0 yesterday at the Harvard Tournament.

With a victory against Bucknell last weekend, the Lions won back-to-back games for the first time this year, holding off a second half surge by Harvard to win in double overtime.

The Lions dominated the Crimson in the first half of play, with goals from Sarah Dwyer and Katie Schoepfer. However, late in the game, the team's defense fell apart, allowing two Harvard goals and sending the contest into the first overtime.

It took until about four minutes into the second overtime before Schoepfer delivered once again, preventing Harvard's upset and giving the team a modest two-game winning streak.

Both of the goals Schoepfer scored were assisted by captain Ali Krieger, and gave the freshman a team-leading eight points on the young season.

"It was a good day for [Katie]," head coach Paula Wilkins said. "Katie and Ali connected well. I think it will help her confidence going into the Big Ten."

Even as the star of the game, Schoepfer was more pleased with the win than her successful day on the field.

"Just to get the win was really important," Schoepfer said. "It didn't matter to me who scored the goals."

The game against Harvard showed some of the team's weakness with the late-game breakdown, but more importantly, it displayed the resolve of the team after the momentum shifted in favor of the Crimson.

"It shows a lot of confidence that they can score, that we're able to come back after two goals in the second half," Wilkins said. "We stopped competing. We didn't recover in time and we didn't control the game. It was a mental letdown for us. I was disappointed with how we came out in the second half. I was impressed with how we responded after regulation."

Responding didn't seem to be a problem, as the team never lost confidence in its ability to hold off Harvard's late comeback attempt.

"I was nervous but I knew our team could handle it," Schoepfer said. "I knew we weren't going to lose that game. I was confident in our team."

Yesterday the team wasn't put to nearly as tough of a test, with a blanking of Northeastern for a 2-0 victory.

Goal scorers for the Lions were midfielder Dwyer, netting her second goal in as many games, and defender Denay Riley. Freshmen keeper Alyssa Naeher posted the shutout, the first of her career.

With two important wins this past weekend, the Lions are entering Big Ten action this Friday against Michigan State playing well, and with the knowledge that they can respond after some early season troubles.

"Having two victories is great going into the Big Ten," Wilkins said. "Putting two good games back-to-back together. I think those three games are going to help us with focusing on the Big Ten."

The short winning streak is the first the team has had since the snapping of its 27-game streak earlier in the season.

"[The streak] means a lot to us," Schoepfer said. "We gotta keep beating the teams we're suppose to beat."