In its last tune-up before the beginning of Big Ten play, the No. 8 Penn State women's field hockey team showed it's ready to defend its Big Ten title.

The Nittany Lions (7-2) extended their winning streak to seven games, defeating the University of Pennsylvania (2-5), 3-0, last night at AstroTurf Field.

A sluggish first half, filled with missed opportunities, slow play and strong Quaker defense ended with a penalty corner and a goal from junior Shaun Banta. It was her first of the game and it extended her scoring streak to four games.

"We did come in a little slow.
They were ready to play so we kind of
had to adjust to their defense because it was pretty good," Banta said.
"I don't think we were prepared
for their low sticks so we were kind
of dribbling into them when we had to go around them."

The Lions came out of their halftime huddle with momentum from their goal and the fire to score again. Within six minutes, Banta had her second goal of the game, tipping in a shot from junior Mallory Weisen.

After scoring twice in yesterday's game, Banta has a team-leading nine goals, eight tallied in the past four games. Her stats are nothing surprising since she netted 17 goals last year, making her the Lions leading scorer and No. 15 in the nation.

"It doesn't surprise me. It's how she plays in practice everyday," senior Annelise Legel said.

"It doesn't surprise me when she puts the ball in the net. She's always there, she's always in the right spot, and she always puts her stick on the ball."

All of Penn State's goals were scored off of penalty corners, something the coaches were stressing in practice. Banta scored the first after tipping in a shot from junior Kiersten Wood. Weisen assisted on the next one and Allie Scola scored on the Lions eighth corner of the night, taking a rebound off the goalie's pads and putting it in the goal.

Despite three goals, the game was riddled with missed opportunities in the circle and shots that went just wide of the cage. Weisen took four shots and only one of them was on goal. The Lions held possession for the majority of the game but still had a few problems capitalizing inside the circle.

Defensively, Penn State played without one of its captains. Senior Carey Maser got hit in the face with a stick during practice on Tuesday and, after having to get stitches, sat out of the game. Senior Chase Bacon, who also got hit in the head against Lock Haven, returned to action last night after three weeks of recuperation, adding a strong senior voice to the backfield.

The Lions will travel to Michigan State on Saturday to begin their defense of last year's Big Ten title. After last night's game, the team looks poised enough and ready to battle the Big Ten.

"We played well as a team. Our goal was to maintain possession and keep the ball moving," assistant coach Lisa Bervinchak-Love said. "Once we get one goal, it seems like we can get the second and third goal. We were patient, we didn't panic, so it was nice that we stayed poised and stuck to our game plan."