Coming into this weekends matchup against No. 1 Northwestern, the Penn State women's lacrosse team is prepared for just about anything.

In a season full of highs and lows, the team comes into the 1 p.m. game tomorrow at Lakeside Field more confident and prepared after beating No. 3 North Carolina, 8-7, in overtime Saturday and nearly beating No. 2 Maryland in a 10-9 in loss on Sunday.

Beating the Tar Heels a week after the team suffered a humiliating loss to No.6 Penn, 16-5, at Holuba Hall, No. 8 Penn State showed its resiliency.

"Coming back from such a terrible loss really showed the character of this team and made us realize that we can come back from anything if we just play as a team," head coach Suzanne Isidor said.

Playing both the Tar Heels and Terrapins strong over one of the Nittany Lions most crucial weekends revealed that Penn State can play with anybody while re-establishing its ability to communicate on the field.

"It is so important that we have improved our amount of confidence in the past few weeks," sophomore midfielder Kerry Shea said. "We are all so close as a team and having each other has helped us get through it all and allowed us to come out stronger than ever."

Facing their toughest opponent of the year on the road, the Lions realize they have to be strong on all fronts to get a win against the Wildcats.

Throughout the week, the team has made sure to practice on its attack because unlike any other team they have faced this season, the Wildcats play pressure defense.

The only team that has come close to playing the Wildcats form of pressure defense is Penn, and because of that, the team has made it the focus of practice this week. The Lions have been trying to discover how to take advantage of that defense in the wake of the problems it caused them against the Quakers only two weeks ago.

"We have made sure this week, because of Northwestern's pressure defense, to spread out our attack and be clean," senior defender Renne Cipro said. "If we can play our game and take advantage of our opportunities, he have a chance to win."

If this season has showed the team anything, it is that no matter what Northwestern throws at them, the Lions are ready and prepared for any outcome that may occur.

"We have experienced everything and done it all," said Isidor. "We have learned from every team we have played this year and go into Northwestern ready to play with the utmost confidence."