March 23, 2007
The 16th ranked Vanderbilt lacrosse team returns to conference play this Sunday, traveling to State College, Pennsylvania to take on 13th ranked Penn State at 12 noon ET (11 am CT).
“No question how big this game is for us, especially coming off a big win,” said head coach Cathy Swezey. “We need to play well in back to back games, so hopefully it will all come together this weekend.”
The Commodores (4-3, 0-1) are coming off a 12-7 victory over Hofstra Sunday afternoon, a game which ended their two game losing streak. Junior Margie Curran scored twice in the victory, extending her team lead in goals to 18.
This will be the fourth ranked opponent Vanderbilt has faced already this season. The Commodores battled top ranked North Carolina to the end before falling 14-11 on March 10th. Vanderbilt has also fallen to second ranked Northwestern and number four Duke. But the team is hoping to put those defeats behind them and break through against a ranked opponent.
“This is a team that is still trying to find their identity,” said coach Swezey. “I think sometimes we get too caught up in the moment and have too much invested in playing top teams. We just need to play our style and do what works for us.”
The Nittany Lions (6-1) will pose a similar challenge to Vanderbilt. They are a team that is fast and offense oriented, so expect junior goalkeeper Brooke Shinaberry to face a lot of shots. Penn State is also known for its goalkeeping, so the Commodores have been working on ways to get shots on net. But for Vanderbilt, the big key will be to play at the level they are capable of playing.
“It was great to see the return of that intensity we had against North Carolina [when we played Hofstra],” said coach Swezey. “The key for this team is to keep up that intensity and not beat ourselves.”