Streak.

The No. 9 Penn State field hockey team is sick of hearing the word.

The team is riding an eight-game winning streak. With a goal against Michigan State on Saturday, junior Shaun Banta extended her personal scoring streak to five games. Sophomore Allison Scola isn't far behind with three goals in the last three games.

But streaks don't matter to the Nittany Lions. The only thing on the team's mind is Syracuse, whom will host Penn State at 4 p.m. today.

"We have already discussed that we cannot take this game lightly," junior Mallory Weisen said. "We really have to play it like it is a Big Ten opponent."

The Lions (8-2, 1-0) beat Michigan State in their first conference game. The Orange (4-5, 1-1), from the Big East, are a non-conference opponent but still a formidable one. The last time Penn State played at Syracuse, it lost 3-2 in overtime. Junior Kiersten Wood, who was a freshman at that time, still has some left over aggression that she hopes to channel through her play.

As a team, however, Penn State has had trouble coming out strong in the second half of games. Against Michigan State, it scored in the first half and then played defensively, allowing the Spartans to tie the game early on in the second half. Sensing the urgency, the Lions got off their heels and scored two more goals for the win.

In its game against Princeton in early September, the team allowed the Tigers to score twice in the second half, and again had to rally to win 3-2.

"We just need to continue to develop an attitude," Penn State head coach Char Morett said. "Every minute of this contest is important, regardless of what the score is. These teams are competitive. We cannot take any part of the game for granted."

The defense, which is without senior co-captain Carey Maser, has stepped up in her absence. Senior Chase Bacon, sophomore Jen Long and freshmen Laura Cahill and Bethany Marvel are part of a backfield that is first in the Big Ten in goals allowed per game, only rendering 0.9. The unit has also only allowed nine goals all season. Sophomore goalie Jen Beaumont, who had only seen 49 minutes of game experience efore this season, is already leading the Big Ten with five shutouts. This has not gone unnoticed as she was named the most recent Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.

"Carey is definitely one of our stronger defenders and a very vocal leader from the backfield, so it's been kind of an adjustment. But a lot of communication from Jen in the cage helped," Weisen said. "She deserves the award and I think it's a reflection on the defense."

Maser, who was hit in the face by a stick during practice, will not play against Syracuse but should be back in action for Friday's game against Michigan. Weisen also will not play today, after suffering a minor concussion.

As the Lions' streak extends, thoughts float back to last season, when the team won 17 games in a row. A win against Syracuse will extend the winning streak to nine games, just two games shy of where they were last year. But this is not last year. There are new players, new goals and the streak is just a lot of one-game wins strung together.

"We try not to talk about the streak and because we just take one game at a time and if it comes, it will happen," Wood said. "We need to play like we are always down a goal. We need to set the pace, set the tempo of the game. We should show the other team how the game is going to be."