Despite the onset of the cold winter months, the game of soccer continues to thrive at Penn State.

The men's and women's soccer clubs work together in supporting an indoor soccer league that runs though the spring semester.

The games are played in the Multisport Indoor Facility on an artificial surface. The fields, roughly 60 yards long and 40 yards wide, create a fast-paced brand of the game.

"It is more intense inside, and there is less space, so it's really compact," freshman goaltender Kristy Bardwell said.

"It is much faster than outdoors," sophomore Reed Brubaker said. "There is no wind, the surface is always the same for every game, and there is nothing that slows the ball down."

All the players involved are in constant motion during play, and the basic fundamentals of dribbling, passing, and shooting are highly emphasized. The window of opportunity for a score opens and closes rapidly, which causes the split-second reaction time of the goalie to be a deciding factor.

"You get to work on technical skills, and you touch the ball a lot more," men's soccer club president Chad Meldrum said. "A lot of the things you learn on a small scale in here, you can apply outdoors."

The games are one hour in length without a break in order to create ample time to get every scheduled game completed on both fields.

The teams in the male, female, and coed leagues have six players on the field at a time, including the goaltender. In the coed league, two male players are in the field and one is in goal at all times.

The rules for scoring change in the coed league where a goal by a female player counts as two points and a goal by a male player counts for one point. The level of play is consistently competitive, as all players are able to contribute equally for their respective teams. Underlying the seriousness of the game, all those involved seem to genuinely enjoy playing.

"I play just to play, because I miss playing from last year," Bardwell said.

"It is a great opportunity to come out and play soccer, because you play with guys who love soccer," Brubaker said.

Collegiate indoor soccer leagues exist outside of Penn State as well. The indoor club will participate in a tournament in Delaware at the end of February and they will host an indoor soccer tournament on April 7th.