It may be only the second weekend of the season, but the Harvard women’s soccer team is already entering the most challenging portion of its regular season schedule.

The seventh annual Harvard Invitational begins this afternoon and the No. 23 Crimson (1-0), which just cracked into the national polls after a season-opening 5-1 victory over Vermont, isn’t making its weekend easy.

Though today’s home opener at 1:30 p.m. against Central Connecticut (3-1) isn’t expected to be a threat, Sunday’s opponent, No. 6 Penn State (2-1), ranks higher right now than any team the Crimson will face this regular season.

That means Ohiri Field will be playing host to a Nittany Lion team with two preseason All-Americans—Soccer Buzz Preseason Player of the Year Christine Welch and midfielder Joanna Lohman—and four straight trips to the NCAA quarterfinals.

The challenge of playing the best is what senior forward Joey Yenne lives for.

“I’m really excited about our schedule,” Yenne said. “We [play] five or six teams in the top 25, and our goal is to win at least three of them. We have lofty aspirations with that, especially right away.”

Penn St. may have suffered a 1-0 upset loss to USC a week ago, but the Nittany Lions followed up with a 1-0 upset of then-No. 2 UCLA. The NSCAA polls gave more weight to the latter result, bumping Penn State up six spots in the national rankings.

Harvard last played Penn State in 2000 when it fell in a close 1-0 decision. Things have changed in two years, though.

The biggest difference is in net, where both teams now feature freshmen goaltenders. The Crimson will play Katie Shields, while Penn State features Amanda Brown, who earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording nine saves to shut out UCLA.

Harvard didn’t make its next weekend’s schedule any easier. The Crimson go to Washington to face the No. 16 Huskies and No. 17 Portland, which made the NCAA semifinals last season.

“We believe we are at least a top-25 caliber team,” said Harvard Coach Tim Wheaton. “For us, there’s no risk in playing Penn St., Washington and Portland. No one expects us to win—except us.”

Even if Harvard can’t match up with the elite competition right away, the Crimson still benefits from playing these games. A loss to a national power will generally have a more positive effect on a team’s rating percentage index than a victory over a mediocre local rival, and a higher RPI helps with NCAA tournament seeding and in earning an at-large selection.

More importantly, Wheaton considers the games to be the best possible preparation for the upcoming Ivy opener at Brown.

“I feel [these three games] prepare us incredibly well to play against Brown,” he said. “We’ll be used to playing a high level and having that carry through.”

—Staff writer David R. De Remer can be reached at remer@fas.harvard.edu.