After coming off of an upset win at No. 8 Princeton and trouncing visiting Temple 17-5 on Tuesday, the Penn State women's lacrosse team comes into this weekend on top of its game, ready to begin conference play against Vanderbilt this Sunday at Holuba Hall.

With Vanderbilt's balanced attack on offense, the Nittany Lions realize a need to counteract that with consistent play on both sides of the ball.

"We want to make sure and capitalize on every opportunity so we can start out strong and take the pressure off of the defense," senior attacker Karen Long said.

With the recent success of underclassmen on the offensive end, this should not be a problem for the Lions.

"Our depth is definitely one of our strongest points as a team," junior midfielder Jessi Leib said. "With so much depth it allows us to go out there and not be scared to go to goal."

With the depth of the Lions at both ends of the ball, this can cause problems for opposing teams.

"With the depth we have it makes it hard for teams to scout us," Long said. "It is so hard to pinpoint because we have so many threats on the offensive end."

Team defense is also something that the coaching staff has stressed in practice the entire year and it has begun to show. After giving up five goals in the first half against the Owls on Tuesday, the defense did not give up another goal in the entire second half.

While the team seems to have begun to hit its stride, coaches and players alike are quick to look at Vanderbilt as a serious opponent.

"Vanderbilt is a tough opponent," head coach Suzanne Isidor said. "Every time we play them it seems to be a one-goal game."

With this being the team's first conference game of the season, it is crucial to start out with a win and maintain the momentum it has built up the past few weeks.

"The coaches have stressed to come out strong and not let up after every goal the entire season," Leib said. "Against Vanderbilt this is especially true because we know when we play them it is going to be a good game and they will come to play."