Probably the loftiest dream for any high school athlete is to play for a Division I program.
Reaching that point in an athlete's career shows that they have the stuff to make it to the big time. Playing in a Division I program is also the biggest recruiting tool a coach can have.
In addition, a prospective player wants to play the top teams and have his talents showcased to as many teams as possible.
"We don't avoid good teams," men's soccer Coach Barry Gorman said. "We look to play top quality teams. When people watch us, they won't see a blowout, but a close matchup instead. This is what the kids want. It allows them to play against the best competition. It allows them to improve. It also helps us with our recruiting, the tough schedules."
Gorman controls the No. 5 Lions, and year in and year out, faces some of the best competition the country has to offer. The 1992 schedule featured five 1991 NCAA qualifiers and 1992 preseason Top 20 teams. Penn State has played four currently ranked teams, splitting the four games. Last weekend they beat perennial national power Indiana 3-1.
"I've heard that we've had the hardest schedule in the country two out of the four years that I've been here," senior midfielder Steve Sergi said. "That puts you in the limelight."
Success is one more factor that Gorman will ascribe to in easing the burden of finding the blue chippers in America and abroad.
"Winning brings attention to the team," he said. "The more successful a team is, the more attention recruits will pay to that program."
Sergi was a second-team High School All-America and certainly had the universe in his hands as to where to go to college. But he focused on academics instead of athletics when choosing which school of higher learning to attend.
"I visited a number of colleges," he said. "I didn't know what I wanted to do at college. Penn State was the only school I visited strictly for soccer. I didn't decide where to go until May, when I decided to pursue soccer in college. There was just something about the program here.
"But more than anything, it was not the sport, but the school that sold me," Sergi continued. "The atmosphere, the players and the opportunity to play close to home (Coraopolis) helped my decision to come here."
Sophomore forward Neil Piper hails from the "soccer hotbed" of Wichita, Kan. As a result, he had to find a school to play for.
"I had known Gorman, and I knew that at Penn State, I would be able to play good teams," Piper said. "I realized after the visit that this would be a good place for me. The whole atmosphere and things in the area also attracted me here."
Notes:
-- In this week's college polls, Penn State (9-2) moved up from its No. 11 positions in both the ISAA/Gatorade coaches poll and the Soccer America poll. Penn State moved up to No. 5 in Soccer America and No. 8 in the ISAA poll.
With the No. 5 ranking, it is the first time in eight years that the Lions have been ranked this high. In the Oct. 2, 1984 ISAA poll, the Lions were No. 4 after jumping out to an 8-0-1 start.
The team was visibly pleased when told of the news.
"The goal was to get the team back to the top and to think that it's happened, it's great," Sergi said. "But we can't reflect on it. There's no better feeling than to reach a goal."
"It's magnificent that we've gotten this high," Piper said. "But now teams will see how high we're ranked and they'll come at us 120 percent."
-- More good news continues to roll the Lion's way. Nigel Sparks was named Big Ten Player of the Week, following his play against Indiana and Akron. That gives the Lions three players of the week in the four weeks the award has been given.
