Six seniors will bid adieu to Jeffrey Field this weekend as the Penn State women's soccer team returns home for a 7 p.m. Senior Night clash with Ohio State.

Although the No. 6 Nittany Lions will face No. 19 Harvard at home Sunday (immediately following the men's soccer game at noon against Michigan State) and will most likely host at least one NCAA tournament game next month, tonight has been set aside for the seniors.

Kelly Kolodczak, Erin Miller, Shari Pickett, Megan Smart, Luanne Strom and Jeannine Verdrager will all be honored at halftime.

Like many groups before them, the class of 2001 has enjoyed great success. The group has helped the Lions win three straight Big Ten championships and achieve an overall winning percentage of .793 in three and a half seasons.

Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer has yet to decide if he will start all five seniors (Verdrager is out for three weeks with a knee injury) tonight.

"We've never done that in the past," he said. "Of course, we've never been in the situation where the outcome of the match doesn't affect the outcome of the season."

The Lions have already taken care of business in the conference.

Their 1-0 win at Northwestern on Sunday gave Penn State their third consecutive title with two conference games remaining. Farmer hopes the Lions will be able to 'get up' for tonight's game, in spite of the fact that the Buckeyes (5-11, 1-8) have had a disastrous season.

After all, Penn State will go into battle for the third straight game without leading scorer Christie Welsh.

"We've been beleaguered by injuries, too," said Ohio State women's soccer coach Lori Walker.

"This should be a good opportunity for our second teams to battle off the bench."

The main reason for Ohio State's demise this season has been the hefty number of goals it has allowed.

Although Buckeye goalkeeper Amber Barnes has made 111 saves this year (more than double that of her Penn State counterpart, Emily Oleksiuk), she has a goals-against-average of 2.13 (compared to Oleksiuk's 0.54). Last Sunday, Michigan unloaded 41 shots on the Bucks in a 3-1 victory.

"That's just their system of play," Farmer said. "They put pressure on in the front and then space is open for a counterattack."

Sunday's opponent figures to be a bit stodgier in terms of letting the Lions get a multitude of shots off.

The Crimson are 8-2 this season and in position to win a second straight Ivy League championship. Junior goalie Cheryl Gunther has guarded the net superbly thus far, holding opponents to a meager 0.81 goals per game.

"It will be much easier for us to not overlook Harvard," Farmer said.

"They have a couple of players who have played on club teams with some of ours, and they're gonna be a team that goes to the NCAA's."

Before the Lions set their sights on Harvard, however, they will give their seniors the recognition they deserve.

"We've been lucky enough that each senior class has done better," Farmer said. "These guys have taken it another step."