The No. 5 field hockey team is back on the NCAA prowl.
For the 11th consecutive year the NCAA has invited the Lady Lions to participate in its Division I field hockey tournament in which the team has a history of finishing fourth.
The Lady Lions, who finished second in the Big Ten, are slated to square off against intrastate and former Atlantic 10 rival Temple at high noon Thursday at Holuba Field. The Lady Owls were the A-10 runner-up this year.
After coming off two big wins last weekend, the Lady Lions were hoping to take advantage of No. 4 North Carolina’s loss to New Hampshire and No. 3 Massachusetts’ tie to move into the top four.
The rankings, however, did not change, and the Lady Lions have to get by the Owls before they can advance to the semi-finals against the Massachusetts Minutewomen Sunday in Worcester.
Hoping to receive the bye, the Lady Lions were not pleased upon first notice of the invitation. As a result, they have decided to focus their discontent on Temple.
“I feel sorry for Temple,” junior defender Becca Main said. “We are going to run right over them to get to where we wanted to be.”
“We were dealt a bad card,” co-captain Amy Stairs said, “but we will have to win with the hand we have. The harder the road, the bigger we win.”
Coach Char Morett told her team to use the placing as a positive. Massachusetts will not play until Sunday, while Penn State will have a chance to build momentum against the Owls, she said.
Despite the team’s discontent, Morett is happy that the Lady Lions are paired with Temple.
“Penn State against Temple is a classic matchup,” Morett said. “It’s a real big rivalry, and we do have an advantage in playing at home. I feel very comfortable with how we’ve been playing, but in the tournament, anything can happen. We have to focus on Temple, and not look beyond that.”
The Lady Lions are now one step closer to breaking their NCAA jinx of fourth place finishes. But they can not afford to look past Temple.
“We’ve gotta take this one step at a time,” junior Chris McGinley said. “So we can’t discount Temple. We have to beat them.”