Hungry.

That is how Michigan water polo coach Amber Drury-Pinto describes her team"s attitude going into this weekend"s tournament in Princeton.

Following a 1-2 start to its season three weeks ago at the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan is ready to attack its East Coast competition.

"We"re hoping to come away undefeated. It should be a good weekend," said Drury-Pinto optimistically.

After the Wolverine Invitational which featured close losses to No. 6 California Santa-Barbara and No. 7 Hawaii Drury-Pinto stressed that the team needed to improve its cohesiveness and work on its fundamentals. She believes that the Wolverines have done both in the past three weeks.

"We"ve definitely made some improvements," she said. "The girls have been working hard at it. Our passing and shooting has really improved."

In addition to their mechanical improvements, team chemistry will also be stressed this weekend. Because of the team"s youth (almost half the players are freshmen), Drury-Pinto is still experimenting with different player combinations, and the team is working to see which younger players fit in well with the veterans.

"We"re still in the experimental stages, still trying to gel lines together and see what"s working," said Drury-Pinto said.

One key player for the Wolverines this weekend will be one of those freshmen goalie Betsey Armstrong. Armstrong, who went to high school in Ann Arbor, got off to a strong start at the Wolverine Invitational, making nine key saves in her collegiate debut against Santa-Barbara.

Another important freshman is Casey Kerney, CWPA Player of the Week for January 21-27. She had two hat tricks and finished with eight goals for Michigan in its first tournament and currently leads the team in goals scored.

While the Wolverines expect to come out solid this weekend in New Jersey, Drury-Pinto is careful about keeping this tournament in perspective.

The Wolverines will travel back east at the end of April for the Division Championships at Villanova and the Eastern Championships again at Princeton before capping their season at the NCAA Championships in Los Angeles in early May.

"They"re important games (this weekend) but its still very early," said Drury-Pinto. "The big prize is still a couple months off, so we want to make sure we keep building through the whole season."