Syracuse's Coyne Field was never a friend to the Penn State field hockey team (9-2, 1-0 Big Ten). Players and coaches alike are well aware that the Nittany Lions never bring their best play to upstate New York.

Yesterday's game against the Orange was no different, but the No. 8 Lions still managed to put together a 3-2 victory.

Penn State coach Char Morett is in her 20th year of coaching, and can not remember a time it was easy to face Syracuse on their turf.

"It's a very tough place to play," Morett said. "Their team always makes us raise our level of play whenever we come into town. They are very aggressive and very competitive."

Syracuse set the tone early with a goal off its first penalty corner of the game. It was the first time since September 2 that the Lions were not the first to score. The equalizer came off the hot stick of junior Shaun Banta, who now has a six- game goal-scoring streak and a total of 11 goals for the season.

The second half practically mirrored the first half with a quick Syracuse goal. Junior Kiersten Wood netted a goal just over eight minutes later. After the second Orange goal, the Lions' defense only allowed one more shot for the rest of the game. The offense took control, and junior Natalie Blasco scored the eventual game-winner with only 13 minutes left in regulation.

"Overall I think we could've done better, but we got the win and that's all that matters," Banta said. " We did some things wrong and we still have a lot to work on. We scored when it mattered."

Although seven of the Lions' 13 shots were on target, Morett was still disappointed with yesterday's presence around the cage. Morett attributed the bland performance with a lack of consistency and poor decisions made with the ball. The Lions were only able to match Syracuse's intensity at the end of the game, according to Morett.

On the other side of the ball, the Penn State defense did not come out with its best game either.

"[The Orange offense] had a lot of chances to beat us on an open field," Morett said. "We just made a couple missed tackles, and that's how they scored their second goal. They just went after the ball. Our timing wasn't there on defense today."

Syracuse was a battle, but the Lions will have a short turn-around period with their next game coming tomorrow night against Michigan. The No. 20 Wolverines eliminated the Lions in last year's Big Ten tournament en route to the championship.

"We've got our game plan against Michigan," Morett said. "We need to focus on playing more as a team. We got fragmented as a team a little bit."