Bad news surrounded the Penn State men's soccer team this week.
Penn State's All-American and senior midfielder Ricardo Villar announced this week that he will redshirt this season because he has been sidelined with a deep ankle bruise.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Villar's announcement couldn't be good news for the Lions.
Hopefully for the No. 15 Nittany Lions, changes occur at noon Sunday when they face Michigan State.
But Michigan State men's soccer coach Joe Baum said Penn State (10-3-1, 3-1-1 Big Ten) might be in better shape because the Lions know now that they can't look to the sidelines for Villar to bail them out.
Penn State has to do everything itself.
"Now, if they know he won't play this year," the coach said, "guys that have been doing well have to step it up even more."
The Lions are expecting a tough match from the Spartans and freshman Lion Nic Shahay said the Spartans record of 7-5-1 is not indicative of the talent on their squad.
Shahay said the Lions can't overlook Michigan State's talent because a lot of their losses were very close and happened late in the games.
With a tough 1-0 loss to No. 2 Indiana and two losses in California during mid-September, Shahay knows Michigan State is a better team than its record reflects.
"We're expecting a hard, tough, good match," the freshman forward said. "We just have to match their intensity and make them play up to our level."
Baum said the Spartans have tremendous respect for the Lions because they know how talented they are even without Villar.
He said Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman has put together one of the best programs in the nation and that this Sunday's match will be a physical contest.
The Michigan State coach said the Spartans will have a good chance to upset the Lions if they can hang on for the first 15-20 minutes and not allow the physical play of Penn State to make the Spartans timid.
"The intensity level is pretty high, every play will count," Baum said. "This is an important game for both teams."
