After Penn State made its first trip to the final four since 1999, it started the preseason ranked seventh. And despite a 6-0 start, it is still only ranked sixth.

“One of those things we want is to stop being the underestimated team,” said Penn State coach Missy Doherty. “I think in articles and stuff like that, we’re always something of an underdog. I think certainly coming off the final four and into the preseason, you’d think we wouldn’t be as much of an underdog. But we are again. I think that’s something we’re continuing to fight for – having Penn State be affiliated with a top five team. I think it’s a process. It’s not one game. It’s not one final four. Certainly at some point, we’d like to get that edge to be considered among those teams.”

Penn State can take another step toward cementing itself as a top tier program when it hosts No. 13 James Madison, a team similarly characterized, today.

“It’s just one of those teams that doesn’t matter record or rankings when you go into that game,” Doherty said. “It’s always just a fight. It’s always a really competitive game. Last year, we were down by a lot and came back and won it in the last second. It’s just a gritty game. We have to be ready to grind and know that any lead is probably not big enough. With them and Colorado in our spring break stretch, we want to be ready for two tough games.”

Penn State is off to a slightly better start than a year ago when they went 14-7 overall last year and 3-2 in the Big Ten. It was 7-1 last year, then suffered a big loss at Stanford and lost back to back at Ohio State and at home to Cornell, and eventually lost the Big Ten tournament opener to a Northwestern team that it beat in the regular season.

“Our regular season needed to be more consistent than it was throughout last year,” Doherty said. “I don’t think getting to the final four was an accident. I don’t think it was lucky. I think when we got there, we were ready to get there. We unfortunately had a one-point loss, but it wasn’t like we weren’t ready to get there. Hopefully, our consistency will start to change some minds in our favor.”

The Nittany Lions edged James Madison in overtime last year. The Dukes are often overlooked despite a history of competing with anyone, and they have won five straight since a 16-14 loss to then-No. 1 North Carolina to open the season. JMU wasn’t in the preseason top 20.

“I’m not sure if we’re surprising people,” said JMU coach Shelley Klaes-Bawcombe. “We have a really good schedule and we’re taking advantage of the opportunities that it presents.”

The Dukes returned only three starters, but have quickly come together. They posted a dominant 21-1 win over Longwood on Friday, the 120^th career win for Klaes-Bawcombe. She became the program’s all-time win leader with her 119^th on Feb. 25 with a 15-4 win over High Point.

Today’s matchup will be James Madison’s toughest game since a pair of matchups with ACC teams. It was tied with North Carolina at halftime, and it was a one-goal deficit with 5:52 left. JMU knocked off No. 16 Virginia Tech on Feb. 15 as its defense limited the Hokies to one goal in a 21-minute stretch when it took control.

Klaes-Bawcombe is trying to get James Madison to the point where it can return to a final four. The Dukes haven’t gone that far since 2000. They are hoping a better regular season can position them for a postseason run.

“What we’ve seen in the past is we get an early great win, but being able to sustain and not have an upset loss has been hard, and that’s what I’ve been pleased about,” Klaes-Bawcombe said. “We play Tech really strong, but then also get the UConn win. High Point is a team that beat us last year and we had a sound win. We’re really doing a great job of being consistent, whereas in years past, we had great wins, but we haven’t necessarily been able to produce that level of play every time we stepped out.”

PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER

Penn State hadn’t reached the semifinals since 1999, and recent years have seen many of the same programs in the final four. Penn State broke through to become just the ninth different program since 2007 to reach the final four.

“I think it’s fueled the fire for what we want to accomplish,” Doherty said. “Coming off that result gives us a little extra to make sure we get a little more consistent in the regular season. I think that was one of our goals was to approach the regular season a little more consistently than we did last year, hoping that pays off more when it gets to playoff time.”

Penn State’s only two games against ranked teams have been a 13-11 defeat of No. 19 Towson on Feb. 11 and a 9-8 win over No. 10 Cornell on Feb. 25. It has also topped traditionally strong programs like Albany and Loyola. No. 9 Colorado visits Happy Valley on Sunday for another big game before they open Big Ten play with Rutgers.

Maryland, Johns Hopkins and Northwestern again are the top contenders in the Big Ten. Penn State won the Big Ten championship in 2015.

“We’re finally to a point where we’re consistently competing with everybody,” Doherty said. “I think we’re consistently showing we’re a top five team with the teams that we’re playing and the games that we’re winning.”

Over the last three years, they have advanced further and further in the NCAA tournament. They reached the tournament in 2014, made the quarterfinals in 2015 and reached the final four in 2016. That has the players motivated for more.

“Our players, from the beginning of this year, had one of the healthiest mentalities and best work ethics since I’ve been here at Penn State,” said Doherty. “It’s so nice as a coach when they’re getting along well, they’re working hard, you don’t have to ask them to work harder, they just do it. Getting those intangibles in place and then having those traditions carry over makes your program stronger and stronger. It’s been nice to see a continuous change in that direction toward being a top five team.”

With a more consistent regular season, Doherty is hopeful that Penn State can make a deeper run this year. And that could open some eyes and push the Nittany Lions higher in national considerations.

“I always believed in hard work and working your way up, and at some point you want to see our hard work has sunk in to everybody,” Doherty said. “If other teams find their way up faster, that’s their journey. Ours seems to be one of keep proving what we’re all about, and that’s OK.”

Fun Phoenix

Elon returned to the Top 20 at No. 15 thanks to a 13-12 overtime win over No. 16 Virginia Tech. The Phoenix are laughing through the nerve-wracking moments.

In the season opener, a tense one-goal win against Virginia, no one would have known it was a nail-biter from watching the Phoenix.

“We were laughing in timeouts and having fun,” Elon coach Josh Hexter said. “There’s no fear and stress for us. We just play and enjoy the competition.”

It comes with having a more mature team this year thanks to being a four-year program, and Hexter has taken advantage of a group that understands better what it needs to do to win. He has changed the mindset to keep practices fun but competitive with high expectations.

“We put a lot more priority on our mental game this year, more than any other, and we practice a little looser,” Hexter said. “We have shorter practices and are playing kickball and dodgeball. It’s making a huge difference.”

Big D from Big Red

Cornell made the biggest jump in the rankings last week, from 17^th to 10^th, thanks to a dominant 10-4 win over then-No. 8 Penn. The Big Red held Penn scoreless in the second half in a repeat of last year’s Ivy League tournament championship matchup that they also won.

“We made plenty of mistakes, but the good news was our defense held really strong,” said Cornell head coach Jenny Graap. “That was the storyline for us was a fantastic defensive effort led by Katie Smith, one of our senior captains, and Renee Poullott, our senior in the net, and then lots of other contributing players in the backfield. That was a big part of the victory over Penn was really, really stingy defense.”

Cornell ranks third in the country in scoring defense, and it was at it again Tuesday in a 13-6 win over Colgate in which they allowed only two first-half goals. Graap credits the defensive prowess to the arrival of a pair of new assistant coaches, both who are defensive minded. Bill Olin was a goalie at Rutgers. Margaret Corzel played defense at North Carolina.

“Both had good ideas and wanted to try some things in the defensive end,” Graap said. “It’s been great. There’s been a willingness for us to try some new things on the defensive end and the team is responding really well. We are trying to switch up our defenses.”

Behind a dominant defense and an emerging offense, the Big Red could be a sleeper team this season.

“It’s exciting,” Graap said. “It’s early. We’re not ahead of ourselves. We’re always going to be humble. We’d rather be the scrappy underdog that nobody is paying attention to. That’s kind of been our M.O. for a long time. We’re often on the fringe of the conversation. This year early we’re in the polls and moving up.”

Irish adjusting

No. 11 Notre Dame was outscored in the second half by Ohio State, 8-5, but had more than enough for a 16-13 win Tuesday. The win was the eighth straight for the Irish since they lost their season opener, but it came a different way from many of the recent victories in their streak. Notre Dame has outscored teams, 70-32, in the second half of games this year.

“Our team is making really great adjustments and finishing really strong and leaving no doubt to what we’re showing up to do,” said Notre Dame coach Chris Halfpenny. “It’s a testament to the flexibility of this team and their ability to make adjustments. The strong finish is something that I’m excited about.”

The defense that was a question mark when the season began has been stalwart in front of sophomore goalie Sam Giacolone. Notre Dame is ninth in the country in scoring defense.

“We have great athletes down there,” Halfpenny said. “We have great communicators. Having the returners in Kat Eilers, Casey Pearsall, now we have Alex Dalton back from injury, with Sam having so much experience under her belt, I think having those mainstays has really allowed sophomore Sydney Flynn and Hannah Proctor to really step up and showcase their athleticism and IQ and their ability to adjust as well. I’m really proud of what they’ve been able to do. I think our defense has done a great job fueling our offensive effort this year.”

The Irish still are led by Cortney Fortunato on the offensive end, and have a couple of sophomores behind her in points who have given the team a big lift. Samantha Lynch has 24 goals a year after having four, and former U.S. U-19 national team attack Nikki Ortega has 14 goals and 16 assists, two more assists than she had all of last year.

“She’s a great craftsman of her own game,” Halfpenny said of Ortega. “She has continuously gotten better. It’s a testament to her hard work ethic. She worked really hard in the offseason last year and throughout the fall to continue to build her game. She’s an ambidextrous player. She’s developing her game with the players around her. She brings great ball control to the field for us. She brings great poise and calm to what we’re doing and has a solid sense of patient but aggressive play and understands what her teammates are capable of what she’s capable of. It’s been nice to see her showcase that.”

Atlantic Sun rising

Quick, name the top two scoring teams in the country through last Sunday’s games. If you guessed Coastal Carolina and Mercer, give yourself a gold star. Or maybe a gold sun.

The two Atlantic Sun teams were ranked No. 1 and 2 in scoring offense as of March 5 and 19.0 and 18.75 goals per game. Unselfish offense has boosted both. Mercer is No. 2 and Coastal Carolina is No. 3 in assists per game. Coastal Carolina also sits first in free position percentage.

Coastal Carolina may slide back about a dozen spots after an 11-7 win over UC Davis unless it can fire up their offense today at Fresno State. Fresno State is the only team in four games to beat Mercer, which has twice scored 23 goals in a game this season.

The Atlantic Sun is well represented in a few national statistical categories. Mercer is fourth in draw controls per game. The Bears are second in ground balls per game, just ahead of fellow Atlantic Sun member Central Michigan. Delaware State is ninth in ground balls per game.

Individually, Sophie Crowther of Coastal Carolina and Amerra Sheckles of Howard are tied for first at 6.0 ground balls per game. Detroit Mercy goalie Allison McDonough ranks second in the country at 12.25 saves per game. Meghan Segreti of Mercer is fifth with 7.0 draw controls per game.

GAMES TO WATCH

Here are some key games to keep an eye on this weekend:

Virginia at No. 2 North Carolina, Saturday, 12 p.m.

It gets harder for Virginia before it gets (only slightly) easier. After falling at Syracuse by a goal, UVA stays on the road in ACC action. North Carolina needed double overtime to knock them off last year.

No. 17 Duke at Louisville, Saturday, 12 p.m.

The winner is in the Top 20, the loser is out of it and slipping in the ACC standings too. Louisville has been teasing the Top 20 and has just two losses by a total of three goals. Duke comes in smarting after back-to-back ACC losses.

No. 4 Syracuse at No. 1 Maryland, Saturday, 1 p.m.

These two final four regulars will square off in a statement game. Can Syracuse go on the road to snap Maryland’s stranglehold in their toughest game yet?

No. 5 Stony Brook at No. 3 Florida, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Neither team has faced an opponent this good. Stony Brook’s offense that leads the nation in assists, and its defense is the stingiest as well, but it was Florida that won this matchup, 7-6, last year.

No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 8 Princeton, Saturday, 1 p.m.

Princeton is 4-0, one of only six unbeaten in the top 20, but Notre Dame presents a better challenge than it’s seen. The Fighting Irish just got by a hearty Louisville team and stopped Ohio State on Tuesday.