With one week left until the round of 16, the Penn State Lady Ruggers will travel to Philadelphia this weekend to take part in the Keystone tournament.

The tournament will be the first matches the Lady Ruggers have played in since they brought home the MARFU championship two weeks ago. Penn State was scheduled to play Indiana University of Pennsylvania last weekend but because of a lack of players on IUP's, coupled with it being Easter weekend, the teams decided to cancel the match.

Regardless, the Lady Ruggers have had no shortage of practice time as they have been able to secure Holuba Hall, allowing them to work on new strategies and stay in shape throughout the two week layoff.

The coaches are using this weekend to get back to the basics, making sure every player sees action, and most importantly. Ample playing time for many players will be a target, not necessarily getting a victory.

"It is important that our players get to play a lot," Penn State coach Pete Steinberg said. "We did not play last weekend so we have to make sure we are match fit. We have two teams entered and the teams will be mixed so we are looking to work on our combinations."

Steinberg is also excited to work on some of the new approaches and plays that the Lady Ruggers have been working on and he feels that this weekend "is a great chance for us to experiment and see what works."

While the round of 16 is a little over a week away, there is always a risk that the team will be looking ahead to next weekend and lose immediate focus. Steinberg feels that while focus will be a challenge, it will not be the main obstacle.

Steinberg feels that since the Lady Ruggers will be playing in two mixed teams throughout the tournament this weekend, it will challenge them. This is due to the fact that coaching staff will have to try to get the less experienced players to step up, not be intimidated, while playing up to the level as the other team's A side.

Even with the lack of game play and the challenges that the mixed teams will present this weekend, the coaching staff sees good things for the team this weekend and hope they will by flying high going into the round of 16.