It's time for the Penn State men's lacrosse team to be a little selfish.

Although the Nittany Lions (2-5, 1-2 ECAC) will face conference foe Hobart (4-4, 1-2) at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Holuba Hall, their focus will remain primarily on the team in Blue and White.

"We're just worried about ourselves, not as worried about Hobart," Penn State head coach Glenn Thiel said. "It's more of we just got to get our own energy level back and intensity back."

The increase in intensity may be the extra factor needed to propel the Lions to victory in close games that have consistently been falling in their opponents' favor.

"We're playing good, we're playing good teams, we're playing well. We're just not winning," Thiel said. "It's a fine line sometimes. We're worried about our own stuff and playing with a little more fire ourselves."

Although Penn State is focusing on improvement and intensity as the catalyst for a win this weekend, it is not taking Hobart lightly. Despite holding a mediocre record, Hobart has shown spurts of strength so far this season. The Statesmen lost by only two goals to then-No. 3 Syracuse in the opening game of the season after leading through most of the fourth quarter.

Penn State will need to keep the intensity on a defense that is already showing signs of vast improvement from early-season letdowns. Hobart brings an aggressive attack, shooting on goal almost as soon as they cross the midline, Thiel said. Junior Jamie Kirk is leading the way as the set-up man for the offense, leading in assists and total team points. He has 28 assists and seven goals on the season. Another major threat, junior Daryl Veltman, leads in goals with a total of 26.

Despite losing another close game last weekend, a 6-5 loss to UMass, Penn State is still confident in the strength of its defense. The Lions' defensive squad is ranked No. 12 in the nation in goals against average, giving up 8.27.

"They're very good shooters all over the field," Penn State defensive coach Kevin Conry said. "They can let it go. We're gonna look to limit their shooters and watch their off-ball stuff. I think we're going to be OK."

Although the tough, close losses have been piling up, the Lions are optimistic, as they worry about themselves this weekend.

"Every time you lose, it's frustrating, but you just got to keep your head up and keep going," senior defender Matt Mulqueen said. "It's a game."