It takes but one goal to win a game.

The Penn State women's soccer team has proven that this season — over and over again.

The Nittany Lions won their fifth straight 1-0 contest, defeating Minnesota yesterday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament in Champaign, Ill., and once again did so in dramatic fashion. Christie Welsh, the leading scorer on the team and in the conference, returned to action for the first time since Oct. 8, and played four minutes. She made the most of the time, sending her only shot of the game past Golden Gophers goalie Julie Eibensteiner with just 41 seconds remaining.

It was the same old same old for Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer and the Lions.

"It was a very bizarre 1-0 game," he said. "We could have scored three or four more goals without playing any differently."

More than just the result was familiar to Penn State yesterday. The tournament's top seed once again dominated the stat sheet, running up 26 shots to Minnesota's three. Eibensteiner, whom Farmer credited with playing a tremendous game, made 14 saves, but like many Big Ten goalkeepers this year, could not stop Welsh, who now has 43 goals in 42 career games.

Penn State also was aided by the return of two other players who had missed the last portion of the season due to injury. Senior midfielder Jeannine Verdrager came back after missing five games and put in 15 quality minutes, while sophomore forward Kristen Mandler returned for the first time since the Michigan contest and played 16 minutes.

Farmer doesn't think the team is pressing its luck, although it's hard not to wonder how long the Lions can keep testing fate and coming away with narrow victories.

"Everybody would prefer not to, but the only thing we could have been disappointed with was not getting more goals," he said.

Up next for Penn State is fourth-seeded Illinois, which defeated Michigan State 3-1 yesterday. The game is set for 5 p.m. at the Illini Soccer Field. The Lions disposed of the Illini 3-0 last month in University Park.

The other Big Ten semifinal will pit the winners of last night's Michigan/Iowa and Wisconsin/Purdue contests against each other, and will immediately follow the PSU/Illinois match.

Although they haven't lost in their last 19 Big Ten games, the Lions are still easing Welsh, Verdrager, and Mandler back into the lineup, and freshman forward Heidi Drummond is still sidelined with, as Farmer put it, "an ankle swollen to the size of a head." She will not see action this weekend regardless of how far into the tournament Penn State advances.

But the Lions are used to it. They've been winning at less than full strength for the past month.

After all — it only takes one goal.