Red, a color that usually means danger, is near.

In soccer, a red card is something no player wants to see above because it is an automatic ejection.

In yesterday's contest against Minnesota, the Penn State women's soccer team received a red card.

But it wasn't a player that saw the referee pull the card from his pocket -- it was Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer.

Farmer received both a yellow and then a red card at the 72:28 mark, forcing him to leave the bench for the remainder of the game. Also, by NCAA rules, Farmer will miss today's tournament semifinal contest in which the No. 7 and top seed Nittany Lions take on the No. 4 seed and host Illinois at 6 p.m.

The Illini advanced by downing Michigan State 3-1 yesterday in first round action. Illini junior Emily Brown led the way, scoring two second half goals.

"Emily really stepped it up," Illinois women's soccer coach Tricia Taliaferro said. "Any time there is a big game, she really steps it up."

Earlier in the season, the Lions defeated the Fighting Illini 3-0 at Jeffrey Field. Lions sophomore Christie Welsh scored two goals and freshman Stephanie Smith added the other.

Also during that match, junior goalkeeper Emily Oleksiuk earned 1 of her 11.4 regular season shutouts.

The Lions hope to stop living on the edge. Every one of their last five games has resulted in a 1-0 victory.

And as the play continues deeper into the tournament, one goal may not be enough. Although, Farmer was quick to give credit to Minnesota's goalkeeper for keeping the Lions off the board.

"Their keeper (Julie Eibensteiner) played very, very well," he said.

In other Big Ten tournament action, No. 20 Wisconsin defeated the Purdue squad 5-3 on penalty kicks and Michigan downed Iowa 2-0.

The Badgers and the Wolverines meet in today's other tournament semifinal with the winner advancing to play in Sunday's championship game against either the Lions or the Illini.

Last night, after all the games were over, Penn State got some very good news.

At the annual tournament banquet where the season awards are announced, Penn State made a killing.

Welsh was named Big Ten Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. She is only the second player in conference history to be named Player of the Year more than once.

And she earned it missing five games due to injury, but still leading the conference in scoring.

Lions freshman Joanna Lohman continued the Penn State tradition of excellent freshman, winning Freshman of the Year. It is the third straight year a Lion has taken home that honor.

In 1998 Oleksiuk was the receipent and last year it was Welsh.

Six Lions were named to the First Team All-Big Ten.

Three of the four starting defense players for the Lions were on that list, as juniors Bonnie Young and Megan Mills and senior Luanne Strom all were on the list. The other Lions earning a spot were Oleksiuk, Lohman and Welsh.

Smith earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors to round out the stong night for the Lions.