In recent years, Jeffrey Field has become a veritable labyrinth for the Penn State women's soccer team — many opponents enter, few emerge victorious.

Illinois and Iowa will be the next to try their luck. The Fighting Illini will square off with the Nittany Lions tonight at 7 p.m., and Penn State will play host to the Hawkeyes Sunday at 1 p.m.

The numbers don't lie. In five home games this year, Penn State has allowed one goal. In its last fourteen contests played at Jeffrey Field, the Lions have allowed five. Penn State's record in those games is 13-0-1.

"We try not to let anyone come into Jeffrey and outplay us," said Penn State goalkeeper Emily Oleksiuk.

"Everyone on the team has a deep respect for the field."

The question is, can anyone beat the Lions at home?

Illinois (7-4, 3-2) is one of the few teams that have come close in recent years. In the quarterfinals of the 1998 Big Ten tournament, Penn State took an early 1-0 lead on a Carole Dutchka goal and held on for the victory. The Illini were lambasted in last year's meeting between the teams, however, with Welsh netting two goals as the Lions won 4-1 in Champaign.

"It's gonna take a great effort to get a (winning) result against a team like that," said Iowa women's soccer coach Wendy Logan. "But we're confident in the system we have in place, and in the players to get out and score some goals."

Iowa has been somewhat snake-bitten this season. The Hawkeyes are 2-3 in conference play (8-4 overall), but lost 2-1 at home to Michigan in overtime, and 3-2 to Michigan State in double overtime.

If the Hawkeyes want to prevent another loss, and defeat Penn State — something which they've never done — they will need to find a way to shut down Lion forward Christie Welsh, who has been terrorizing the Big Ten.

Welsh tallied game-winning goals at Minnesota and Wisconsin last weekend, earning her Big Ten player-of-the-week honors for the second straight week. She has scored 39 goals in 39 career games, despite the fact that teams key on her every time she takes the field.

The Hawkeyes will also have to do what few visiting teams have done so far this year at Jeffrey Field — manufacture some offense. The big gun for Iowa is senior forward Kate Walse, who is pacing the team with eight goals and three assists. Walse and Co. will be hard-pressed to solve Oleksiuk, who returned from an injury a week ago to record back-to-back shutouts.

Being the Big Ten front-runner is not new to the Lions — they've won the last two regular-season titles — nor is being the conference's marked team.

"Every team is gonna give you their best game," Oleksiuk says.

If Big Ten foes hope to escape the 'labyrinth' that is Jeffrey Field, that game had better be nothing short of spectacular.