Laura Jackson was thrilled when she heard that women's soccer at Penn State would be elevated from a club sport to an intercollegiate sport. But there was still some doubt in her mind.

When she stepped on campus in 1990, Jackson was told that women's soccer would become an intercollegiate sport at the end of that season. It never did. So Jackson waited.

Last fall the move was made.

"When the final word came, I didn't believe it," Jackson said. "Then all of a sudden I was like, 'Wow.' "

By the 1994-95 academic year, women's soccer will no longer hold club status. Instead, it will become the 14th women's intercollegiate varsity sport at Penn State.

This is a long way to come for an athletic program that was non-existent just 30 years ago. Martha Adams, the former chair of women's physical education, often reflects on those times prior to 1964.

Adams said the Women's Recreation Association provided Penn State female athletes the only chance to participate in sporting activities outside the classroom. She remembers the "play days" and the "sports days," which were intramural competitions with other schools.

"It was a sporting social occasion, but you didn't train for it or anything like that," Adams said.

In the early '60s, Adams and other administrators began to talk with then-Athletic Director Ernest McCoy about creating an intercollegiate women's program. The women wanted a higher level of competition.

Finally, on Oct. 3, 1964, female athletes at the University got that higher level of competition when Penn State and Bloomsburg competed in women's field hockey. It took the determination of people like Adams, but the Penn State women's intercollegiate athletic program had come to fruition.

During 1964, the University offered nine intercollegiate sports for women -- field hockey, tennis, golf, basketball, softball, gymnastics, lacrosse, fencing and rifle.

The former assistant athletic director at Penn State, Della Durant, said most of the teams competed on the HUB playing field. Although the women were competing on another plateau, they still weren't afforded the luxuries that the men's teams were. There were not sufficient funds for proper facilities and equipment.

"For quite a few years, we were limited in competition," Durant said. "But we spread from that sports day mentality to the intercollegiate mentality."

In 1971, the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was established, and along with that organization came scholarships for women, funded by the institutions. Then in 1972 came Title IX, which prohibited discrimination based on sex in educational programs or activities receiving federal funding.

"That pushed our program into making sure there was more equity between men and women's sports," Adams said.

After Title IX, women's athletics in Happy Valley continued to thrive with the arrival of more sports. Track and cross-country became intercollegiate sports in 1975, followed by volleyball in 1976.

"We had a unique program where men and women were treated both the same in a unified program -- it was all for the student-athlete," Durant said.

Not only had Penn State built a women's athletic program, but they had built a winner as well. Between 1978-83, 11 Lady Lion teams won national titles. The success was evident.

"I think one of the main reasons why the women's sports have gotten where they are is because they've had good coaches in the past," said Penn State Tennis Coach Sue Whiteside. "Penn State has hired some outstanding coaches with total drive behind them. We've set precedents for everybody else. They created that a long time ago."

Today, Penn State continues to enhance its women's athletic program. This June, the University is required to present to the Big Ten Council of Presidents an annual report describing the actions taken to reach gender equity. Big Ten schools need to reach a male/female participation level of 60/40 percent.

"I think as we've grown, we've taken the right steps," said Associate Athletic Director Sue Delaney-Scheetz. "As long as we continue to take those steps, we will be in the forefront of men's and women's athletics. I think the addition of women's soccer has been another step forward."

Somewhere on campus, Laura Jackson is gleaming.