While winning back-to-back Big Ten championships is no small accomplishment, win three straight, and the word dynasty begins to float around.

The Penn State women's swimming team kicks off its season today with a match up in Morgantown against West Virginia at 4 p.m., and will continue throughout the winter as it tries to defend its conference title, finally culminating in the NCAA Championships in March.

For Penn State head coach Bill Dorenkott and the rest of the 2006 women's swimming and diving team, a third-consecutive title is far down on the list of goals.

"A lot of people think that the goal is to win a third Big Ten title, but that's not it at all," he said. "The only thing we have control over is whether or not we are prepared. We have to maintain our focus, and let the chips fall where they may."

Whether or not the team is focusing mainly on a championship, those "chips" have fallen right into the laps of the Lions the past two seasons.

This season the team will be led by four captains, seniors Jessica Barnes, Claire Hawley, and Megan Palera will take charge, along with junior Molly Crispell.

Dorenkott has faith in his captains to get the job done, but would always like to see more swimmers and divers stepping it up.

"Each captain is outstanding in her own way," he said. "They are all excellent students, and work-driven athletes. But you can't have enough leaders, it isn't restricted to seniors. I look for all of my players to be leaders on and off the court."

The Lions will enter the season with one of the youngest squads to date. Twenty swimmers on the 29-man roster are freshmen or sophomores.

Youth, hopefully, will give the Lions a chance to maintain a successful team for the next couple of years, and coach Dorenkott thought that his team even had an advantage with such a young team.

"One of the beauties of having a young team is that there is a bit of mystery as to what they can do," he said.

"We know what kind of talent we've got, and I think that that helps us."

With the start of the new season, all eyes are on the Lions, and their run for a third consecutive Big Ten championship.

"From the inside of the program, I think we're going to be realistic," Dorenkott said.

"There's no pressure, because in reality there is always someone coming after you."