The last time the Penn State U. field hockey team got a win was back in late August.

Back then, the sun was shining, the bleachers were hot and the water jets provided a treat for fans watching the game at AstroTurf Field. But a lot can change in a little over two weeks.

Today on a cloudy, chilly and damp mid-September day, the Nittany Lions did something they failed to accomplish against the No. 3 and No. 5 teams in the nation –get a win.

The No. 16 Lions defeated Lock Haven 3-1 on Sunday behind goals by Brittany Grzywacz, Jessica Longstreth and Lauren Purvis. Coach Char Morett said it feels great for the team to get back to its winning ways, but there’s always more to a game than just coming out with the victory.

“You know, it does feel good to get a win,” Morett said. “But you know, it’s always like, ‘How did we play?’ I thought that we played a great second half against Connecticut [last weekend], and that’s what we talked about at halftime. We’ve always come back in the second half and played a better second half. And I felt that we did that today.”

Not only did Penn State need the win for the rankings and standings, senior captain Daneen Zug said pulling out the victory was psychologically huge.

“It feels great. I think we needed to get that win,” Zug said. “Today was a big game. We want to see those wins, we don’t want to see those loses, but when you play tough teams, when you have a tough schedule, it happens sometimes and you’ve just got to play through it. And I think we came out well today.”

Lock Haven was the first team Penn State has played all season that wasn’t nationally ranked in the top 20. Although it may seem as if playing an easier opponent would help the team relax, forward Lauren Purvis said it actually did the opposite.

The freshman goal scorer said it’s in fact tougher to play a squad the team is expected to beat. And if the team didn’t come out with a win today, it would have been a huge disappointment.

“Well there’s always pressure to do well and always win,” Purvis said. “But when you’re the higher seed it’s kind of, ‘If you don’t win you’re like, it’s not good.’ ”

Morrett said the best way for the team to overcome the added pressure is to come out of the locker room with a game plan and stick to it. She said executing the aspects of the game they’ve worked on in practice during the week is the main goal of the game. After that, everything else will fall into place.

“I think the kids probably feel a little added pressure,” Morett said. “But I think for us, the youth that we have on the field, let’s try to stick to the game plan, let’s try to keep the field spread.”

But Morett said she was happy with how her team handled the expectations against Lock Haven in Sunday’s victory.

“And I think you can see the way we transferred the ball across the field, that we were able to get the ball down the field, was something that we were very effective with today,” Morett said. “So that was very positive.”