The Penn State soccer team will kick off its first year in the Big Ten Conference with 10 new recruits, no scrimmages and no exhibition games.

The incoming freshmen were all unaware of the new NCAA rule that prohibits preseason games. Most of the players have only just met one another and no actual team playing has occurred, but they think the lack of practice won't be too much of a problem.

"Soccer is a team-oriented sport, and without a scrimmage we need to first become familiar with each other," freshman sweeper Joe Corapi said.

But Coach Barry Gorman is concerned with the upcoming season, which due to the new NCAA rules allows no scrimmage or exhibition games prior to the team's Sept. 6 season opener. Since most of the incoming freshmen are not arriving until Aug. 17, this leaves the recruits less than three weeks to get ready for their first game.

So although Gorman has an impressive lineup of newcomers, he is not sure there will be enough time to get them ready.

"Getting ready for a new season is like standing on the 10-meter diving board with new shorts on -- you don't know if they are going to hold together or fall apart," he said.

Gorman said that the new NCAA rule will make time in preseason critical.

Brannon Seaman, a 5-foot-10-inch, 168-pound swing player, called the upcoming season "a rebuilding year." He said the year will be new for the whole team and that they all know soccer but they must learn new strategies and lineups with each other.

After losing five starters from last year, Gorman set out to get a serious set of recruits. Among the new squad are Corapi, who played for the Canadian Under-19 National Team and defender Paul Michael, who played prep soccer in Scotland.

Although Gorman has lost those five starters, he does have 12 letter-winners returning. The team is leaving a conference where it reached the NCAA tournament 18 out of 21 times. With a record last year of 11-8-2 and a four season Atlantic 10 record of 21-2-2, the squad has a lot of adjusting to do in the Big Ten.

"For our needs, I'm looking for about 50 percent of the new squad to make an impact right away," Gorman said. "We'll have a good nucleus."

Among that 50 percent are Corapi, Michael, goalkeeper Michael Baringer, forward David Blythe and forward Neil Piper, all of whom are capable of competing for a starting position immediately.

But Gorman is not unaware of these young men being a young team. He hopes the freshmen will rely on the sophomores and juniors a lot and anticipates juniors Nigel Sparks and Steve Thomas will be the backbone of the team.