Any athlete can tell you that home field advantage plays a large part in a team's success. Just ask the Penn State men's soccer team.

The Nittany Lions opened their 2001 season with mixed results this weekend, beating Bucknell, 5-1, Friday night at Jeffrey Field, then losing to South Carolina, 3-2, in Columbia on Sunday.

Senior midfielder and preseason All-American Ricardo Villar was the Lions' star this weekend, recording three goals and two assists in the two games.

On Friday, Villar opened the scoring against the Bison just over four minutes into the game off a corner kick by senior Greg Oldfield. The teams played to a stalemate for the rest of the first half, slipping and sliding on a rain-soaked Jeffrey Field. The Lions still mustered seven shots in the first half, but the score remained 1-0.

Sophomore Eric Earnhardt started in goal for the Lions but was forced to leave after taking a blow to the head while diving to stop a charging Bucknell player just three minutes into the game.

"He came out and took a knock to the head, but he seems fine," head coach Barry Gorman said.

Junior Ryan Sickman, who played all but 360 minutes last year for the Lions, replaced Earnhardt in goal and faced only one Bucknell shot.

Villar struck again in the second half to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Just two minutes later, fifth-year senior Ken Lear added a goal to increase the Lions' lead to three.

Lear, who was cut from the squad last year, found himself in a starting forward spot against the Bison.

"Ken got a wake-up call last year," Gorman said. "To his credit, he's come back and he's worked hard."

The rest of the Lions have also worked hard this off-season, and their conditioning was apparent as the first game continued.

Penn State dominated offensively in the second half. Surprising freshman Chad Severs increased Penn State's lead to four, and senior co-captain Jorma Makipaa scored his first career goal to put the Lions ahead 5-0.

Bucknell's Alexander Par scored his team's only goal with less than four minutes remaining in the game, ruining a Penn State shutout. Par's goal was scored on the Bisons' only shot of the game.

"We're disappointed we didn't get a shutout," Villar said. "But a win is a win, we'll take it."

Lear noted the importance of opening the season with a win on the team's home turf.

"When we left the locker room, we said that we don't lose on Jeffrey Field," Lear said. "No one comes to our field and beats us."

South Carolina must have had the same feelings about their home field, Eugene E. Stone III Stadium, in Columbia.

The No. 17 Gamecocks came back from a two-goal deficit Sunday to hand the Lions their first defeat of the season.

Senior midfielder Derek Potteiger, the Lions' scoring leader last season, tallied the first goal off an assist by Villar. The two All-Americans hooked up again 40 seconds later, as Potteiger assisted Villar to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.

Penn State held the lead into halftime, but South Carolina's offense erupted in the second half. South Carolina's Ryan Daley scored six minutes into the half to cut the Lions' lead to one, and Anthony Stovall's goal tied the score at 2-2.

With just seven minutes remaining in the game, South Carolina's Ryan Barber scored the go-ahead goal, which proved to be the game-winner.

Sickman was in goal for the Lions against USC, but Gorman said Earnhardt would be ready to go later in the week.