Three years ago Penn State defeated Wisconsin 13-12 in the Midwest Championship finals to earn a trip to the National Collegiate Rugby Championships.

Sunday, Penn State pulled the same trick again, defeating Wisconsin, 7-6, and earning the right to represent the Midwest at this year's National Collegiate Rugby Championships.

Was it deja vu for Penn State? Hardly. The only two Lions that were playing for the team that beat Wisconsin three years ago are senior co-captain Pete Karmilowicz and senior Scott Davis.

"Most of us weren't here when the team won the Midwest Championships in '89," senior Shawn Crago said. "We've been hearing about the trip for three years, so its feels good to win."

In the previous two years, the Lions were knocked out of the Midwest Championships in the semifinals. In 1990, Penn State was beaten by Ohio State and last year, the Lions were defeated by Bowling Green in the semifinals. These losses may have provided inspiration for Penn State as it headed into its semifinal match with Notre Dame.

"We were motivated from the losses the last two years," senior Mike Underhill said. "We didn't want to lose in the semifinals again."

Spurred by this motivation, the Lions roared to a 16-6 halftime lead over the Irish, behind trys by Davis and sophmore Bryan Storm. The second half was more of the same for Penn State. Davis, Underhill and junior Malcolm Bland scored trys and the Lions coasted to a 30-9 win over Notre Dame. The win set up a Sunday showdown with Wisconsin with a trip to the rugby final four on the line.

The Wisconsin game was a defensive struggle all the way. Although Penn State was the bigger team, the Lions were unable to capitalize on this advantage because of penalties caused by tense play in the early going.

"We had a lot of anxiety at the beginning of the game, which caused the penalties," Karmliowicz said.

Halfway through the first half, the Lions got the break they needed. Punting from the Wisconsin 45, Karmilowicz made a beautiful kick that was fielded by a Wisconsin player at his own 5. The unsuspecting Badger was drilled by the Lions' Storm and fumbled the ball. An alert Storm grabbed the loose ball from the air and stepped into the endzone for the try.

"I got a real good shot at his chest," Storm said, describing his tackle and subsequent try. "When I hit him the ball went in the air and I grabbed it and slammed it into the try-zone."

The extra point attempt by Davis was unsuccessful but the Lions had drawn first blood. Ten minutes later the Badgers answered with a penalty kick to trim the Lion lead to 4-3.

The first half ended on a controversial note. Late in the half, Penn State was on the move, and appeared to have scored a try. It was ruled that Penn State had made a forward pass and the score was nullified.

"I couldn't believe (the referees) called (the lateral) a forward pass," Davis said. "It was a beautiful play."

Had the try been allowed to stand, the Lions would have taken, at the very least, an 8-3 lead into the half. Even more important, momentum would have shifted to the the Lions side. Instead, Penn State went into the intermission clinging to a 4-3 lead.

"If the try had counted, the momentum would have definitely been in our favor," Davis added.

Now the Lions found themselves in a dogfight. With 20 minutes to play in the game, Wisconsin converted a penalty kick to take their first and only lead of the game at 6-4.

Once again, the Lions found themselves behind late in a game. This time though, their season hung in the balance. But once again Penn State rose to the challenge, as the Lions mounted a drive that culminated in a 30-yard penalty kick from Davis. Penn State had regained the lead for good and the game ended at 7-6. Said Karmilowicz of the winning drive, "we realized that this (the season) was it and we did what we had to do to keep the season alive."

"Both teams played hard the whole way," Underhill said. "There was a lot of hitting going on out there."

While he acknowledged that the emphasis on the basics (tackling, running the plays and strategic kicking) helped propel the Lions to victory, Underhill believes that the desire of Penn State was the deciding factor in the win.

"The game was just another case of us (Penn State) wanting to win more than the other team," he said. "Everyone showed a lot of heart."

The Lions will get a two-week rest before they travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado for the National Collegiate Rugby Championships. Penn State will face the University of California at Berkeley in the semifinals. Cal-Berkeley won the Championships last year.