The second place field hockey team will face a struggling Penn offense this weekend at home this Saturday, before heading to Fairfield to face an 8–8 Stag squad on Sunday.

The Yale defense will look to shut down a 3–11 Penn team that has been outscored 51–17 so far this season. They are led by a trio of scorers — Kirstin Snyder, Laurel McGarvie and Sarah Hasson, each of whom has scored seven points this season — less than half of what Yale’s leader scorer, Erica Borgo ’14, has tallied. Yet despite the mismatch on paper, Coach Pam Stuper and the Bulldogs know not to take anything in the Ivy League for granted.

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“They’ve struggled this year, but I know what they’re capable of.” Stuper said. “I’m never comfortable going into any Ivy League game.”

Nor, after last year’s game at Penn, should she be. The Quakers finished 2–5 in the conference, sixth, last season, but nearly beat the second place Bulldogs. In that contest, the Bulldogs, down 2–1, needed a late, game-tying goal from forward Mia Rosati ’13 to send the game to overtime, where Rosati salvaged an otherwise frustrating day for the Bulldogs with the game winner.

After Saturday, the Bulldogs will have to deal with 8-8 Fairfield Sunday. The Stags are coming off back-to-back losses, one of which, however, was a game against California decided in penalty strokes.

The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend sweep that included an important conference win in Hanover against Dartmouth. Yale also dominated 0–13 Holy Cross in Worcester on Sunday outshooting the Crusaders 18–8 in a 2–0 win. Yale earned a sweep of the Ivy League’s weekly awards, as back Georgia Holland ’14 (4 goals, 5 assists) took home her third Ivy League Rookie of the Week award, while back Erin Carter ’12 earned her first Ivy League Player of the Week honors for her three-goal weekend.

Faceoff against Penn is set for noon on Saturday at Johnson Field. The Bulldogs will begin Sunday’s game at Fairfield at 1 p.m.